Pro Tregedakru (Welcome to the Tree People)
by stormfet
Summary: Set before the plot of the 100, the story of Anya mentoring Lexa as her second.
1. Chapter 1

It had been weeks and her first hadn't done anything.

Lexa tried. She tried every day, in the menial tasks of the village: collecting food, scouting, watching for the other clans. The other seconds, they did things. Their firsts took them out into the woods, with weapons: swords, knives. They came back with stories of hunting the two-faced deer, of knife-throwing and spear-making, of hitting a target thirty meters away. And all she did was collect food and watch.

Anya said hardly anything. On the days when she put warpaint on, she would leave with the other firsts and come back at the end of the day. The other firsts would share dinner with their seconds, telling them about hunting and meetings with the other clans, alliances made and broken, wars being fought on the other side of the woods, of other people from far away, strange stories of wonders never known to this world. Anya would sit across the fire, eating her food alone, not looking up.

It bored Lexa, so she began to have her own fun. During the watch, when no one was looking, she would throw her knife at the trees. Each time it would bounce off. She would cross her legs and let her mind go blank, focusing on the watch. She would remember the ceremony, where Anya chose her. It had filled her heart to the brim. She had said goodbye to her birth parents and left the village, following Anya on horseback, the first so much bigger and taller and stronger. They had travelled through the woods, a small group of them for days and days, the endless forest stretching wide, green and brown blending together into endless shades of earth. The other seconds, they had talked with their firsts. Anya said nothing. Lexa didn't think anything of it at first, but then when she still refused to speak, it started to grate at her, day and night. It kept her up in the darkness, no matter which way she tossed and turned her small body. The other seconds, like her, were no more than a decade old, but most of them were already able to run faster, climb higher, shoot further. In the little fights the seconds had she never won, being beaten to the ground. And Anya didn't even glare at her from the sidelines like the other seconds who lost. She was nowhere to be found.

It was like this every day. And Lexa was tired of it. So her fun began to become not fun as she worked harder and threw further. She ran in the woods, climbed the trees, threw her knife at the watch. And soon, the knife that never stuck in the trees began to hit blade first. The trees began to get cut up. And soon, the knife began to stick.

Lexa watched the brawls closely, watching the other seconds and what they did to win, the way they twisted their arms around the other's legs to knock them over, the way they positioned their legs further apart to balance. And she started copying them.

The brawls, though they were for fun, were kept track who was winning and who was losing. They had a chart on the ground, scratched in the dirt with a stick, and the rocks were piled in the slots for who won and who lost. The winner got a rock. The loser got nothing. There were fifteen seconds in this village, from all over. Some were born in the village. Some were from far away, coming to live in the village to train with their first. Some were neighbors, grown up with the seconds from this village, seeing each other only a few times a week. Lexa was one of the ones from far away. And she was in dead last. There were no rocks in her slot. And she wanted to change that.

The one who came next to her, Kirsch, he had one rock. And then the next one had three. That was Janus. Lexa told herself she would beat both Kirsch and Janus in the brawls. And then she would work her way up. Slowly, slowly, Lexa told herself in the woods alone as she practiced her stance and punched trees and rolled in the dirt. By day, she kept loosing. She would let Kirsh knock her feet away, let Alana punch her cheek and fall to the ground as she felt her arm on her neck, pounded the ground three times with a hoarse yell. Let Sanse pull her hair and punch her stomach, let him throw her to the dirt. But she was watching. She saw how Kirsh favored his right side. She saw how Alana kept her feet too close together. Saw as Sanse's reflexes were slower on his left leg. Lexa was patient.

And finally, she woke up, battered and bruised as normal, got up from her mat and stretched her legs, rolled up the sleeping mat, got dressed in the chill morning. The seconds had a few nuts and then were called to morning watch. The air was cold, but Lexa was warm. She knew today she was ready.

They sent her to the north side of the village. The seconds were mixed in with some of the older warriors. The next nearest watcher was a ways away, his figure blurry in the woods. Lexa gazed into the green, the trees a maze. She pulled out her knife. She had sharpened it the night before, and ran the blade under her fingernail. It was sharp. She went through the motions of the fights, ducking, rolling, pivoting, her heel tracing a line through the dirt. She still went barefoot - all the seconds did until they were ready to become warriors. Shoes were a luxury, made with layers of hide or otherwise found in the woods in old wrecks and shelters. They were a gift that you earned. But Lexa enjoyed being barefoot. It kept her grounded, connected to the earth. And it gave her small frame a grip on the dirt, her toes curled on the cold ground.

The day passed like a slug, but Lexa conserved her energy as the watch was shifted, called back in. The other seconds did their usual activities. Lexa watched the fire burn, legs crossed, eyes half closed. At this point she almost didn't think about where Anya might be. The day was too important.

It was dinner. The sky was dark, the fire burning bright. The seconds had finished eating and were starting to exchange insults, throwing sticks and rocks into the fire. Two of them stood up, Ophus and Reed, and started exchanging blows casually. Slowly at first. The other seconds were yelling, throwing things, playfully. And then just like that it had started. The seconds were fighting. Ophus tried to kick Reed's feet out from under him, tried to knock him to the ground, but Reed was too quick, instead jumping to kick Ophus's head, but just like that he had ducked down to the ground and his hand came up in an uppercut, but Reed dodged the cut and -

On like this the two exchanged blows, but none of them landed, circling, kicking, punching, yelling. Lexa screamed along with the rest. And, almost too quickly for Lexa's sharp eyes - almost - Reed was spinning through the air and then he was on the ground, Ophus panting, his hands on his legs. A rock was placed in Ophus's pile, to join the pile that stood there. Ophus was near the top, third to Costia and Yunto.

"Come. Let's have a playfight," Ophus said, wiping sweat off his brow. "Lexa. Your turn. Let's have a break before we get onto the real fights."

Lexa stood up. The other seconds jeered her. "Where's your first, Lexa?" screeched Costia.

"Not even bothering to show up to her own second's fight," jeered Ophus. The other seconds joined in with cheers of "where's Anya?" "Lexa has no first!" "Let's see her fight!"

"Ok," Lexa said. "You want to see me fight? Give me a real fight and maybe I'll try."

Costia stepped up. Lexa looked up to the taller second. This was more than she was expecting. It escalated too quickly. She hadn't prepared to fight Costia, she had prepared to fight Kirsch. But there was no backing down now. Costia still had weaknesses. It wasn't her right side, like Kirsch. Costia kept her arms too stiff when she punched, it would tire her out. That was Costia's weakness. Lexa only needed to bide her time and Costia's arms would tire. And she would still win. But she would draw too much attention too fast. Either way though...

And she stepped up. Costia stepped up with a smile, cracking her knuckles to intimidate Lexa. Lexa smiled inwardly. She didn't expect anything from this fight. She expected to win in seconds. Lexa tensed as she and Costia circled each other. In the glow of the firelight, unexpectedly, her first's face came into view, just barely at the edge of the shadows. "Shit," Lexa thought to herself. Now there was no way she could lose.

Costia took the first blow, her fist coming in from the right, straight towards Lexa's ribs. Lexa let it land, but softly, as she rolled with the blow, spinning and coming up fine. Kendra's eyebrows shot up, but her lips hardened as her smile disappeared. Her foot came from nowhere, right side this time. Lexa darted away. Two fists back to back, an uppercut, Lexa spun away to the right as the second came from the left. Both missed. Now Costia was breathing, sweat appearing on her brow.

Two more fists appeared, one straight to the stomach, and one a cut to the legs. Lexa jumped, her legs flying to dodge both, and spinning, her legs suddenly making contact with Costia's side. She landed and danced away as a spurt of punches and kicks came at her. Costia was angry now. Lexa had landed a hit. The only thing she could hear were the rhythm of Costia's breaths and the pounding of her heart. That breath was fast now, just slightly ragged. They spun, twirled, kicked and punched. At least, Lexa was spinning and twirling. Costia was doing the punching and kicking. And it was somehow, magically working. Lexa's energies only seemed to increase as she dodged, parried and occasionally hit back. Costia's blows were becoming less frequent and heavier. Her energy was running low. And Lexa's was soaring high.

And then it was over. Costia tried to throw it all out, her entire weight onto one punch at Lexa's diaphragm. Lexa easily sidestepped and as Costia's fist missed, she gently pushed Costia over. She went toppling to the ground. Lexa's knee went straight to the back of her neck as she pounded the ground three times.

The seconds were silent for a moment or two. The fight had lasted a long time, almost bordering five minutes. And then someone whooped. Lexa didn't know who, but then all the seconds were whooping, screaming, yelling for Lexa, who stood triumphant. Unlike most of the fighters, whose stance was often hands-on-legs or hands-on-hips to widen their ribs because they coudln't breathe they were so exhausted, Lexa was ready to go again. She was jumping, smiling, whooping with the others. Costia, from the ground spat, wiped her mouth, stood up and held out her hand. "You fought good," Kendra said with a slight grin. "You have my respect."

Lexa soared. This was more than she could hope for. Two more seconds stood to take their place as Costia bent down, removing a stone from her pile and placing it in Lexa's empty slot. "For you," she said. Lexa smiled. "Yu nowe odun."

"Pro," Lexa said, slipping easily into tregedasleng. The high of the fight was leaving her, and she sad down on a log. And just like that, Anya was next to her. "

"You lost hope because I was no longer with you," Anya said. "And I left. But then you realized you no longer needed me, and became even stronger than when I picked you. I picked you to be my second for your talent. I saw it, others saw it. But the moment you lost hope, you began to live to the expectations of others."

Lexa sat still, not daring to look at Anya. "You have learned your first lesson," Anya continued. "Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim. Pro tregedakru, Lexa. You do not need the expectations of others to be gonakru. Only your own. Now we begin. Meet me at the north edge of the village at dawn. We have work to do." And with that, she was gone.

Lexa sat up, watching the fights of the other seconds. This time she was smiling. And when the fight was over, she cheered just like the rest.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where are we going?" Lexa said, practically jumping with excitement. Now that Anya was actually taking her somewhere, Lexa could barely breathe she was so excited. She hadn't slept a wink the night before, instead getting up two hours early and trying to meditate to clear her mind. It hadn't worked.

Anya said nothing, walking two or three paces ahead of Lexa. True to her word, she had met Lexa on the north side of the village. Somehow, despite Lexa getting up two hours before dawn, Anya had been there first, sitting quietly in the early grey light. And Anya was taking her somewhere in the woods, deep in the woods. The sounds of the village had faded quickly, and been replaced by the sounds of the forrest. The chirping of birds calling to the sun, the early breeze rustling the trees, snaps and creaks of the trees moving with the wind, and the presence of the forest, sitting there, quietly.

"Anya," Lexa said, bounding forward to walk alongside her mentor. "Anya, where are we going?"

Again, Anya remained silent. Lexa looked up at her. Lexa barely came up to Anya's shoulder. The older woman was tall, powerfully built, her brown hair tied back, her eyes gazing ahead. She hadn't put on war paint this morning, there had been no need to. But Anya had a look about her that said that she didn't need war paint to look powerful. Anya did that on her own.

Lexa could barely keep up with her first, having to take almost two steps for every one of hers. She was nearly out of breath and they hadn't even begun doing things. Lexa fell behind Anya, looking at her back as she strode forward.

And then like the morning fog, Anya wasn't there. Where her back had been before was simply greyish green in the morning light. Lexa stopped, suddenly, her body tense, pulled as tight as a bowstring. The noise of the woods faded as Lexa's ears focused only on her, her heartbeat quickening, the blood pounding in her ears. Lexa shook her head, and spun around, trying to watch for Anya and at the same time keep her guard up.

Suddenly Anya was falling from the sky. She landed in front of Lexa, looking down at her as her knees bent to the ground to give way to the fall. "Nowe gona dun." Anya said. "Do you think the other clans will just disappear?"

"No," Lexa said, trembling.

"They are constantly on edge. One moment, we may be allied with them. The next, that alliance breaks because the heda wants what is best for her people. You must always be ready," Anya said.

Lexa stood there silently. "Come, little one," Anya said, her face softening. "Some lessons will be harder than others. These first lessons are very hard. And then the later lessons you will laugh at me because you do not believe me when I tell you to do something. You ask me to challenge you more. That is when you will be ready. When the lessons are hard, that is when you are still learning."

Anya took Lexa's hand and led her through the trees to a clearing. The morning light was filtering through the trees, the fog clearing, the grey fading to green. The sun felt warm on Lexa's shoulders. Inside the clearing was a small shelter, a lean-to against a tree, covered in leaves. Little more than a one-night emergency shelter.

"Pro," Anya said. "Yumi na kamp disha. This is my camp, you might call it a secret. I come here sometimes to train and meditate. Yumi will be coming here, sometimes every day, sometimes not often, to train."

"Sha," Lexa said. She remained silent.

"I want you to built a fire," Anya said. "Fire is a friend, it's a weapon, it's a tool, it's a shelter, and sometimes it's a foe. But not that last one today. Today we need a hearth. If this is to be our home, make it so. Built a fire. Without help."

She reached up, seemingly into thin air, grabbed a branch, hoisted herself into the sky and once again, disappeared. Lexa knew she was close, though. So she did as she was told. She walked around the clearing and the auxiliary woods, gathering tiny twigs, no thinner than her hair, keeping them warm and dry in her sleeve. Larger sticks, still twigs, and then real sticks, bigger sticks, log size. She travelled back and forth around, gathering the wood and placing it in piles.

Lexa looked around at the trees. This was something that the grounders almost instinctively knew, but was still drilled into their heads from day one. The trees that were soft, easy to burn. The trees that were hard and took more effort to light, but once they burned they burned long and hot. Lexa needed a piece that was soft, and two pieces that were harder. There was a tree with needles. Lexa took a piece of dry wood and split it down the middle with her knife. And a tree with leaves, sharp and spiky. She split another piece of that, and then carved the second piece into a crude, blunt stake. Pulling out a piece of rope from her many pockets, Lexa assembled a makeshift bow drill for a fire. It was all automatic. It was almost like she was watching her own hands as they wound the rope around the spindle, tied it to the bow, began to spin, watched as the smoke began to rise and the heat begin to eat away at the softwood below, watch as the brown powder formed, smelling as warm and earthy as a fire. Watched as the powder hardened, turning black, then a dull red, forming a tiny coal. Watched as her hands scooped the coal, gentle, gentle, into the bed of the twigs no thicker than her hair and watched as she wrapped the coal, tucking it into bed and blowing on it, gentle, gentle. Watched as a tiny fire appeared in the bundle, watched as she placed it into the bed of kindling she had assembled, gentle, gentle, now blow harder on it, harder so the fire rises. Watched as the fire rose, hungry, devouring the sticks and the wood. Watched as her hands fed the fire more, more, slowly, slowly as the fire rose higher and higher, hungry for more. Watched as the fire grew until it was big enough that she didn't have to feed it it was eating those hardwood logs and satisfied for now.

Lexa sat back, small beads of sweat on her forehead from the effort. She glanced around her. The clearing was even brighter, the sun higher in the sky, puffy white clouds drifting by between the gaps of the trees. Anya lept down from the trees, landing lightly on her toes.

"Now we have a home, Lexa," she said, sitting down gently and crossing her feet beneath her, tucking in her toes until all Lexa could see was knee and leg. Silence hung in the air. Lexa at first didn't touch it, but it began to grow and her young, wiggly body couldn't resist. She was, after all, only ten.

"So," Lexa said. "Now what?"

"Hm?" Anya said. Her eyes flew open. Lexa hadn't noticed they had half-closed.

"Now...what?" Lexa asked again.

"What do you mean?" Anya asked. Lexa was confused. Her first was the one that was supposed to know everything, when to do anything, how to do it.

"Well, now that we've built the fire...what do you want me to do next?" Lexa asked. "We are training, aren't we?"

Anya sighed, looked down. Lexa could see that she was gathering herself. And then she smiled. "Goufa," Anya laughed. "You spent the morning and look at what you have accomplished! A home, already. Don't you see that that is enough? Celebrate all that you have done. We do not need to be doing something every moment of our day."

Lexa nodded. And then sat back and closed her eyes. And then opened them again and saw Anya sitting with her legs tucked behind her knees again. And then she closed her eyes again. And jiggled her leg. And tapped her fingers on the ground. And then opened them. And saw Anya was looking back at her. And she laughed. Lexa frowned, confused. "But of course you are only ten. Come, we will do something now." Lexa leapt up as Anya got to her feet.

"The other seconds, they have not learned the self direction that you have. Patience you will learn with age. And I believe most of them have weapons," Anya said.

"I have a weapon," Lexa said, pulling out her knife. Anya took it, examined it, and then tucked it into her belt.

"I see no weapon," Anya said. Lexa pouted, and Anya smiled. "That will change."

"What do you need me to do?" Lexa asked in a rush, excited once again. She felt the determination stirring in her gut.

"Go out into the woods," Anya said. "And I want you to find a tree that speaks to you. A hard tree, not a soft tree."

"What will I be making?" Lexa asked.

"You are trigedakru," Anua said. "The Woods Clan. The tree will tell you if it is the right tree. Go."

"Anya," Lexa asked. "Will you teach me to disappear into the trees like you do?"

"One day," Anya said. "You will learn." Lexa nodded and turned into the woods. She left the clearing, and as if it were magic, it disappeared. The forest was monotonous again.

"Find a tree that speaks to me," Lexa murmured to herself. Her bare feet stepped lightly on the hard dirt, feeling the earth beneath the pads of her toes. Her fingers traced along the trees. She looked up towards the sky, at the huge trees reaching up to the sky, taller than anything she could imagine, the green stretching endlessly to her ten-year-old body.

She looked back down at the ground, where the trees reached down into the earth to hold themselves there. She was tregedakru. She could speak to the trees. Touching the pines. It was the wrong tree. She touched one of the trees with lobed leaves. It wasn't right...too earthy. And yet the trees with spiky leaves were too joyous. They almost felt like they weren't connected to the earth at all. And the trees with white bark that was so good fire, it was too soft. It gave to her fingers.

She wandered deeper into the forest, always keeping the sun over her right shoulder so she could find her way back to the clearing. Each tree felt wrong, one of the kinds that wasn't right. Too earthy. Too untethered. Too soft. Too piney. Too hard. Too giving. Until...

Her fingers lingered on a tree. This one had smoother bark, less of a wrinkle. The leaves were little leaflets on the branches, in bunches rather than one leaf. The tree grew straight and tall. It was a young tree, like she was - not thick at all. If she touched her two middle fingers together and her two thumbs, she could almost reach around the trunk. "This one," she whispered to herself. The tree was perfect - straight, tall green, as if the thing Anya was asking her for was a -

She spun around, the sun on her left side now, and rushed back to the camp. "Anya, Anya!" Lexa crowed.

Anya looked up from her crafting. "You found a tree."

"Yes, yes, Anya, it's perfect!" Lexa called, grabbing Anya's hand. "Come on!" Anya lept up and the two of them dashed through the forest. For once, Lexa was keeping up with Anya easily. Geda and sekon together.

"Here," Lexa said, at last arriving at the tree. She hadn't realized how far it was from camp. "This one."

"It speaks to me too," Anya said, running her hands over the bark. "It is a good tree. Ready for what we need to do. Look, Lexa." Anya pointed around the tree. "What do you see?"

"Other trees growing nearby," Lexa said. "It's a forest."

"Not just. Some trees in a forest will find their niche, be able to grow tall and mighty with others around them. Like we do in our gedakru. Some trees, however, find a place to grow that isn't good. And the forest kills them. Slowly, it takes a long time, but eventually that tree cannot get sun, cannot get water, cannot get food. It's being edged out by the others around it. What do you see now?"

Lexa looked at her tree. Suddenly she realized. If this tree grew any taller, it would be in shade. The other trees around it were too close, blocking out the sunlight. "It will be edged out."

"When we look for resources to make our tools, Lexa, remember to use the things nature intended us to use. She doesn't want us to use the tall, thick trees that are healthy. She wants us to use the trees she never intended to be that way. Come," Anya said, bending down and drawing out a long knife. It was serrated along the side. "Cut."

Lexa took the serrated knife and began to draw it across the tree near the base. She repeated the motion over and over, watched as the cut became deeper and the tree began to tilt. The effort exhausted her arms but she kept it up, back and forth, long, deep cuts with the saw. Finally the tree tipped, and Anya caught it. They did the same thing on the other side, to get rid of the leafy branches. Anya collected these, tied them and slung them across her back for other use.

"You know what we're making now, don't you," Anya said as they walked back to camp.

"We're going to make a bow."


	3. Chapter 3

"So your first is finally making you do things, huh," Costia said. Lexa was sitting by the fire. It was just after dinner, and they had finished eating. Ophus and Reed were fighting and the other seconds were cheering and yelling. Now that Lexa had proved herself, the other seconds respected her and actually talked to her. Costia included.

Lexa liked talking with Costia. She was a young girl, same age as Lexa, ten. Their whole group was. And yet Costia seemed much older. She had light, caramel brown hair that hung straighter than Lexa's curly mess could ever imagine, and soft blue eyes. She was taller than Lexa (perhaps that was why Lexa thought she was older). Like the other seconds, she was barefoot as well, her feet bigger and longer, her toes thin. Her feet were made for running. Costia pulled out her knife and started tossing it to herself.

Lexa nodded. "I'm making a bow. Anya says that a bow is the first weapon you learn to use, excluding your knife, but she says that doesn't count because a knife is a tool used for self defence, not a weapon."

"Milo says the same thing," Costia said. "He's teaching me how to use a sword."

Lexa couldn't help but be a little bit jealous. "That's cool," Lexa said, trying to be supportive. Costia smiled, glowing.

"But I mean, a bow is useful to," she said. "You can't hit someone from far away with a sword. Unless you disarm yourself. Which is about the dumbest thing anyone could do."

"Yeah," Lexa agreed. "But I mean, a sword does more damage. You can't chop someone's arm off with a bow."

Costia nodded, and then grew more solomn. "Milo told me about this one grounded, Kira. She only ever used a bow in combat. But she had made it so that the tips of the bow had little knives on them, and each pinpoint was filled with poison. So when she was in melee combat, she would use the bow like a sword, and every prick of the bow would make her enemies fall to her knees, trembling."

"That is so cool," Lexa said, feeling slightly stupid she couldn't say anything else.

"I mean, obviously she was using a mirabeetle, that's where you'd get poison to paralyze your enemies. But isn't that cool? Just fighting with a bow?" Costia said. "Maybe I'll do that when I'm gedakru." Costia mimed pulling a bow up to her cheek and drawing the string.

Lexa stared into the fire. "I want to use a sword when I'm gedakru. But it'll be a long time before Anya teaches me how to use a sword. They're the purest of weapons. We'll have to do everything else before we use swords, she told me."

Costia nodded. "I mean, you didn't even have your first for the longest time, Anya was testing you. None of us got that. So now you know how to teach yourself things."

Lexa nodded, proud. She felt a surge of blood to her cheeks and her chest felt like it was going to explode.

"Lexa!" Reed called, Ophus on the ground. "It's your turn!"

Lexa stood up to fight one of the other seconds, Ruble. He was one of the middle fighters. She had pinpointed his weakness a long time ago (his hair was so long that it got in his eyes sometimes; his first would probably make him shave to counter that). The fight was over in a few minutes, Ruble on the ground. Lexa added a second rock to her pile. Even though technically she had only two rocks in her pile, making her tied with Kirsch, the other seconds acted like she was one of the top fighters. And not to brag, but they were right.

Lexa sat back down again next to Costia as two more seconds stood up to take their turn. "Hey," Costia said, tapping on Lexa's shoulder. "Come on."

"The fights aren't over," Lexa said.

"You and I have both done our turns," Costia said. "They won't make us fight again tonight since we've both won ours. Come on, let's go."

The two girls stood up and left the circle, the dusk settling in around them again. Lexa's eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness. "Hey," Costia said again. "I know where we can go."

Costia grabbed Lexa's hand and the two took off into the woods, darting among the trees, jumping over roots. "Costia," Lexa said. "Does Milo ever disappear into the tops of the trees?"

"All the time," Costia said. "I wish I knew how to do it."

"Me too," Lexa agreed. "Anya does it whenever she wants me to do something alone."

They continued deep into the night. Lexa wasn't afraid of the dark, but she did cringe a little bit when she thought of the animals that awoke during these hours. But they were still far to close to the village to have any fear. And besides, they both knew what they were doing in the woods. It wasn't going to be a problem.

Costia stopped short, and Lexa nearly ran into her. "This is it," Costia said, grabbing Lexa's hand again. "Come on!"

They tiptoed their way through the next band of trees, and the forest opened up into sky. Far below the cliff ran a river, and then the forest continued on below, stretching out into the horizon. The mountains scattered on the distance, peaks that were so tall they were still covered in a light dusting of frost.

Lexa looked up and saw millions of stars twinkling in the sky. A river of them ran across the middle, twinkling so very far away.

"I know what that is!" she said, pointing to the river of stars. "My mother told me. That's the milky way."

"The milky way?" Costia asked.

"It's the edge of our galaxy. Back before...anyway, back when they had the technology, people learned that we live in a thing called a galaxy, and the milky way is the edge. Beyond that are millions of other galaxies. And they're all floating around each other. And nobody knows where it ends."

"What if there are people like us out there?" Costia said, pointing at a star. "Over there, say. People living over there, looking out at the stars and wondering the same thing we are."

"Imagine if," Lexa said.

"Check it out!" Costia said, pointing. "That star is moving. That bright one, right there. What is it?"

"I don't know," Lexa said. They watched in silence as the star floated across the sky. All too soon it had disappeared on the horizon.

"Aren't you supposed to wish on stars that move?" Costia said. "I feel like people used to do that."

"I don't know what I would wish for," Lexa said. "I have everything I want right here."

"You know what I would wish for?" Costia said absentmindedly.

"What?" Lexa asked.

"I can't tell you!" Costia said with a bop on the nose. "Otherwise it won't come true!" She sat back on her hands and leaned her head on Lexa's shoulder. They watched the stars in silence twinkle.


	4. Chapter 4

Lexa breathed in, deep and slow. The bow was complete - she had finished it that morning after a week of carving, sanding, smoking, bending, weaving the bowstring, wrapping the handle to grip it better. The bow had been strung and it hadn't cracked. Lexa nearly cried when it had. The moment had come. It was time to shoot the arrow.

Of course, they weren't Lexa's arrows. Anya had made that infinitely clear. She was borrowing Anya's. Any damage to them Lexa would have to not only make the arrow back for Anya, but make a second for her as well for damaging the original. On top of the fact that Anya was making her craft her own set, so Lexa no longer needed to use Anya's. The branches had been cut, but carving the arrow shafts would be a whole other task that would have to be complete. Lexa had already suffered through the week of nearly no action, just endless carving and smoking the bow. But the result was - if she did say so herself - glorious. The bow, when strung, stretched from the ground to just below Lexa's eyes. Unbent it was taller than she was.

Anya was watching from the trees as Lexa breathed in and out. She started off small. The target was fairly sizeable and only just across the clearing. Lexa stood in the middle of the clearing. A distance that was no challange. Lexa had her stance perfectly. After years of watching the others, she wasn't about to fuck it up.

"Both eyes open," Anya called out. Lexa's only fault. Her left eye jumped open, edging closed to keep the target in focus. Of course Anya was right. The right eye focused on the target. The left eye's job was to watch everything else. Lexa closed both of them, breathed again, and drew the string.

The arrow rested on her finger for just a moment as Lexa checked the lining of the target to her bow and then with hardly a movement, just a straightening of her left two fingers, the arrow shot forward. The pain was momentary - the feathers cut into the top of her finger as the arrow flew by. Less than a second later, the arrow landed with a thump and rested quivering in the middle of the wooden target. Lexa relaxed her arm and smiled inwardly.

"Retrieve it," Anya said. Lexa walked obediently to the target and gently removed the arrow. "Again. Three paces back."

So it continued. Lexa would walk back three paces, shoot the arrow, retrieve it and then repeat the process. The arrow continued to land in the middle of the target until eventually the target was on one end of the clearing and Lexa was standing at the other. The target was considerably smaller than when she started. Lexa breathed, drew and released. With a thump, the arrow landed in the middle of the target.

"Good," Anya said with a smile. She walked across the clearing Lexa soared at the compliment. "Now. I want you to do the same thing again, only instead of shooting one arrow, you're going to shoot three in succession." Anya stepped away from the tree, revealing three wooden targets. "One arrow in each target."

Lexa breathed for a moment. This challenge was considerably harder. Shooting the arrows themselves was simple enough, but the drawing was more difficult. Anya saw the conflict in Lexa's face...Lexa groaned inwardly. She needed to work on keeping her emotions inside.

"It is easier if you hold the other two arrows in your left hand as you draw rather than drawing them anew. We're going to work on incorporating the drawing during a fight later. For now it's just accuracy practice. We are just starting out after all," Anya said with a smile.

"Ok," Lexa said, and at Anya's request, drew three arrows, strung one and held the other two with her left hand. It was a little more awkward. Lexa started out slowly, and all three arrows landed off center. Luckily none went flying into the woods, or Lexa would have to go hunt after it. Anya made her repeat at that line until all three arrows were landing in the center. And then three paces back and repeat. This go around was much more difficult than the first. Each time the arrows landed off center, at least one in the group of three, and Anya refused to let her move back until every arrow was centered.

Lexa nearly threw her bow to the ground in frustration during one of the rounds, but near the end of it the repetition began to work its way into her muscles and her arms began to move automatically. The arrows started landing in the center. Finally she was across the clearing as before.

"Good. Now I want you to draw the arrows, instead of holding them in your hand, and do the same thing," Anya said. Lexa had to control herself to not roll her eyes, but she stepped up to the first line, drawing her first arrow. She breathed, drew, and was about to shoot when a grounded jumped down from the trees, landing in the middle of the clearing. Lexa barely saved the arrow from shooting off into the woods. Anya strode forward.

"The Ice Clan. Attack in the northern woods. We need you," the Grounder said. Lexa saw his face and placed him - it was Ian, one of the Grounders that worked with the Heda. If Ian was coming, it was important. And Anya was one of the most important warriors they had.

"Lexa," Anya said. "Bring the bow. But you also get your weapon for now." Lexa's arm darted out to grab the knife as Anya tossed it. Lexa hung the bow over her shoulder next to the quiver.

Anya reached up and grabbed a branch. She had begun teaching Lexa the art of climbing through the trees, but Lexa wasn't the best at it, so she clumsily climbed up after Anya and the three grounders were off, running and swinging through the branches much faster than on the ground. Lexa's heart was pounding, the blood thumping in her ears. The firsts always brought their seconds into battle with them. Otherwise the seconds would never learn. So this was Lexa's first real test. Nothing else could even begin to compare.

They passed through the village - Anya's camp was on the south side and the skirmish was on the north side. Anya appeared alongside Lexa. "I want you to stay in the trees. Your job is to guard with the bow. There will be grounders with you. If you see that I am taken down, you will come down and fight in my place. I expect you to do well. If I am overwhelmed, I expect you to assist me. Other than those two circumstances, you will take your orders from Connor. He will be in charge of the archers.

Lexa nodded. "I'll be leaving. You can spot me on the ground," Anya said. She reached up and smeared muddy ash on her eyes. "Here," she said, handing the jar to Lexa. "Put on warpaint. So they won't recognize you. And it gives you courage."

And then she was gone. Lexa followed Ian in the trees as he directed her over to Connor. Connor was grouped with five or six other grounders and some of the seconds. Lexa saw Ophus and Reed both with them, but no sign of Costia. She must be on the ground. "Lexa," Connor said. "Kom. Zog Isagedakru raun. Emo kom nort, lok tregedakru op. Emo gaf sis en, gif sis op. Pesh?"

"Pesh," the other grounders nodded. They took their positions around the forest, bows strung, arrows knocked and drawn. Lexa smeared the warpaint across her eyes. She was generous with the paint, and felt it drip down her face as it dried. She didn't care. She waited. The forest remained quiet for a moment. The others on the ground must be hidden.

And then in a rush of noise and sound, the Ice Clan burst from the trees with screetches and yells. "Zog op!" Connor yelled, and arrows began to whiz and fly. Isagedakru went down with screams. And then the grounders were fighting and Lexa couldn't tell one from another. She jumped from skirmish to skirmish, looking for Anya.

Lexa spotted her in a moment, busy fighting an Isagedakru twice her size. Another was circling around the back, drawing her sword. Lexa swallowed, drew and shot. The arrow landed in her neck and she was down. Lexa shivered and shook it off. She could not afford to be distracted.

And so it repeated. Lexa spotted other Tregedakru in need of assistance and shot from the trees. The geda almost always went down. And then most of the time she was waiting, looking, unable to tell Tregedakru from Isagedakru. Her body was tensed the entire time, like her bowstring.

Then it was over. Isagedakru left over disappeared into the trees, melting away to deal with their wounded and leave the dead. Connor nodded and the archers lept down from the trees. Juram, one of the archers, rushed off with Ophus, her second, to do her job as one of the healers. The other, Corin, had remained in the village in case Juram and Ophus were killed. She would be joining them soon.

Lexa ran over to Anya. "I'm fine," Anya said. "You?"

"Shaken," Lexa said honestly.

Anya grabbed her shoulder. "We talk later. Now, the others need us. Come." Lexa followed as Anya walked through the clearing. Most of the dead they came on was Isagedakru. Until...

"Kirsch," Lexa said softly, stopping dead in her tracks. Anya continued on ahead, but all of a sudden Lexa couldn't hear anything. Her vision narrowed to a body laying in the grass, neck twisted at a horrible angle. His eyes were closed, thankfully. But he was clearly dead.

Lexa fell to her knees, the tears coming hard and fast and silent. She and Kirsch had never been best of friends, but all the seconds were closer now that they accepted Lexa.

"Lexa?" a young male voice called. Ophus stumbled into the clearing, Reed at his side as they saw Lexa kneeling next to Kirsch.

"Yes," she choked out. They stood behind her, saying nothing. And then Anya was back in the clearing. Lexa looked up, wiped her tears.

"Sorry," she said and stood. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

Anya strode over to Kirsch and touched his cheek. "It is always a tragedy to lose one so young," she said softly. Lexa said nothing. Anya reached out and touched Kirsch's shoulders. "Yu gonplai ste odon."

The four grounders stood. "Come. There are four others. Everyone else is Isagedakru. Let's go." Mechanically the Tregedakru worked together, gathering up the bodies. They removed the weapons and arrows from the Ice Clan dead, then piled the bodies up to burn them. The five dead Tree Clan warriors they carried back to the village.

Tohru emerged, the village Heda, as the warriors stumbled back into the village. Juram and Corin tended to the numerous casualties in the healer's tent. Everyone else gathered in the village. The five warriors were laid on the ground, wrapped in dark cloth. There would be a sigil that night - all of the warrior's families would watch over them through the night. In the morning, the bodies would be burned.

"Bennet, Samus, Westley, Kan and Kirsch," Tohru said after everyone had gathered. "You have given your lives in battle. Your sacrifice will help the Clan, and your lives were lived in service to the village. You die in honor and peace. Yu gonplei ste odon.

"I will give an extra word to Kirsch as a seken. He had much potential, and we mourn his loss."

The village bowed their heads as the light faded from the sky. The members of the fallen's families stepped forward to give vigil. And every one of the nine remaining seconds stepped forward to mourn Kirsch. Costia (thankfully, was safe and sound), Ophus, Reed, Lexa, Janus, Alana, Sanse, Yunto and Gabe. The nine of them gathered around Kirsch. Like Lexa, Kirsch had come from away, so had no family to mourn him other than his first, Kylie, who gravely stepped forward. Lexa remembered back when Kirsch only had one rock in his pile. He, like Lexa and like the other seconds, had improved with practice. He had five or so rocks in his pile, even with most of the seconds.

The silence fell as last minute whispers were exchanged. Anya stepped forward to Lexa and pulled her away for a moment. "You fought well, and protected me. That is all I can ask for. Thank you," Anya said. She rested her hands on Lexa's shoulders and leaned forward to touch her forehead to Lexa's. "And leave your warpaint. It looks good how it dripped." She disappeared into the gloom.

Lexa looked over into the nearest puddle. The warpaint had been smeared across both her eyes, like a raccoon's mask, and had dripped down her cheeks in three and four long strands, stopping at her mouth. Lexa nodded to herself, and then joined the other seconds in a long, silent vigil.


	5. Chapter 5

Several weeks had passed since Kirsch's death and Lexa had thrown herself into her training with a fury that she had never before encountered - not even when Anya refused to train her. Every task given to her she completed and then some. She stopped talking to the other seconds. Despite Kirsch's relationship with her being mild at best, Lexa had personally taken his death to heart.

The Isagedakru had not attacked since. Anya told her that after meeting with Tohru and the other geda, that battle had scared them off and they likely wouldn't attack again for a while, although the heda said he wouldn't put it past them to regroup with the other villages of the Ice Clan. Grounders don't take a hit like that and ignore it. As for how long it would take...the geda had no idea.

"Several weeks, months, it could even take years. Sometimes the other clans, when they get into skirmishes, don't attack again for years and then when the other clan least expects it, they strike back with a vengeance. Or even worse, backstab a clan in an alliance to get back for a skirmish that happened a generation ago," Anya had said when Lexa had asked about it. Teh geda were very busy with meetings and discussions and strategy plans. Anya had to attend them practically every other day. She had taken Lexa to the first several to show her how they worked, but quickly saw that because Lexa was so young, many of the terms and ideas they talked about went over her head, and after a session where she found Lexa under the table giggling with Ophus, Reed and Costia, had decided that a better way for them to use their time would be to practice their skills. So from then on, every time there was a geda meeting, the seconds would all be put together to practice their skills. Which generally was a mess and usually ended with someone (usually Ophus or Alana) getting sent to the healer. Lexa was too busy sitting in the corner meditating to focus on her tasks.

In training, Anya was teaching Lexa several things at once. She would take Lexa into the trees, where they would practice running through them and swinging on the branches. And then Anya began to teach Lexa how to disappear into the trees - be there one moment, then quickly grab a branch and haul yourself up so quickly that you seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye. Especially if you were wearing camouflage.

Lexa also continued with her archery skills. Anya was secretly very impressed with how quickly progressed, reminding the geda why she had picked Lexa as sekon in the first place. As Lexa began to move through the trees with increased agility and skill, Anya began instructing her to shoot at targets as she ran through the trees. At first Lexa had too many things for her body to do and would fall out of the tree. Luckily, because of the way her body worked and what she was taught as a young member of the clan, she instinctively rolled on the ground to disperse the shock from breaking her arm or leg, so it could have ended worse. But as they progressed, Lexa fell from the trees fewer times and hit targets in the center so much that Anya quickly saw this was no longer becoming a challenge. She sought to change this at lunch one day.

Anya had sent Lexa out to gather some food - dandelion leaves, cattail stems, pine needles, sorrel, anything they could eat. Lexa returned and Anya pulled out some deer meat from the village. They wrapped everything in crude metal sheets from the village and placed the whole mess in the fire to cook.

"Lexa," Anya said in the silence as the two watched the fire crackle. Lexa looked up. "Your progression with archery is satisfactory. You have come a long way with working with the bow on foot.

Lexa, on the inside, was glowing, but she kept her face a mask. Anya saw the cracks though. "Thank you, Anya."

"I am going to take you back to the village when we are done eating," Anya continued as she poked the package in the fire. "You are going to pick a horse and we will work on archery on horseback. You will begin calvary training."

At this, Lexa could not contain her poker face and it fell apart as her jaw dropped open and her eyebrows flew up to her hairline. "What?"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Anya asked, and then smiled. "You heard me correctly. I want to begin calvary training with you."

Lexa was so happy that she could cry. None of the other seconds had begun working with horses. This would be the first thing she had ever done before any of the other seconds. And then she thought a little bit. Working with calvary would be fantastic. But more than anything Lexa wanted to work with a sword. It was the purest weapon, in Anya's words. She looked up to the Heda, with his katana that was used in battle, peace, ceremony and practice. It was the epitome of Lexa's desires to work with a sword. In her secret heart, she watched with pleasure when it came time for the Heda to end a traitor's suffering with the sword. Lexa was ashamed, and jealous. Perhaps one day she would be Heda and get to have that duty...but ending a life was a very serious task. And Lexa was getting off task, speaking of. She would have to give this some thought later. Right now she had to ask Anya a question.

"Anya," Lexa began after a deep breath, then opened her mouth to begin her speech and question.

"You want to know when we will begin sword skills," Anya said before Lexa could get a word out. Once again, her second's mouth dropped open.

"How did you know I was going to ask?" Lexa said, and then winced when she heard the slight whine in her voice. Thankfully, Anya smiled.

"Because I was the same way as you. My first did not let me use a sword until I was fifteen. She made me master - not just be competent with, but master - every single other weapon. Bow, mace, axe, knives, spear, staff. He made me master every single one. And only then was I allowed to begin sword skills. The sword is the purest weapon, in her words. She had trained with the sword almost her whole life and still did not consider herself a master. The sword, she said, is elegant and complex. A bow requires distancing yourself from your enemy. Knives require such a short distance it almost makes them impractical unless the user has the highest of skill. Axes and maces both smash, they require brute force but no finesse. Spears are too regular, they are the weapons of footmen. Staffs, unless wielded by masters, can be unwieldy and case too little damage to the enemy. They are a weapon of defence. But a sword is a weapon perfected. In times of old, the art of swordsmanship was a sport, played for honor, not gore. Swords, ceremonially, were used by the kings of an age past to honor warriors with the title of 'knight', signifying their contribution as a warrior and their mastery of skills. A sword is a weapon that, no matter if you practice every day, day after day, you will never master. The closest you can come is having it master you." Anya ended her speech with a glow in her eye Lexa hadn't seen before.

She turned to her second. "I will not make you master every weapon before I make you practice your sword skills. But you will at least have to show me competence with an axe, mace, spear and staff first. I will not make you master knives. It is far too difficult and impractical for me to command you do that.

"However, I will make you master the bow. Archery is a style of fighting that is apart from the others, which are all melee combat, in other words, you must be near your enemy to damage them. Archery allows a warrior to cause damage from a distance, keeping the upper hand. Some geda consider archery a lowly form of fighting, fit for cowards and fools, but I disagree. Archery, when used correctly, can make the difference in a battle, especially if one is defending, as we did with the Isagedakru attacked. If it weren't for you in the tree, we would have likely had many more casualties than we did.

"And you have progressed to the point in your archery skills that we need to add another element, which is why after we eat (here, Anya pulled out the meat from the fire) we will go to the village and you may select a horse."

And here, Anya fell into silence as the two of them ate their food together. Lexa watched as Anya stared into the fire, falling into the hypnotizing gaze of the flickering flames dancing red, orange, yellow, and at the heart of the fire, a greenish-blue color.

Once the two were done eating, they put out the fire and disappeared into the trees, running and swinging on the branches high above the ground. Swinging through the trees at this point to Lexa was almost second nature as they climbed high above the ground. They were, after all, tregedakru. The Woods Clan, the Tree People. Climbing trees was what they had done since the beginning.

Anya jumped down into the village, and Lexa landed beside her. "Come," Anya said, walking into the village. The stables were at the far end of the village, and next to the food supply, they were the most heavily guarded area of the entire village. Horses were the highest grounder commodety. They were a symbol of a geda, they were transportation, they were advantage in battle, they made the difference between life and death. The horses were treated better than anything else in the village. They got the best crops, they were tended to by the highest geda. If you were a stablehand, you had proved yourself in many battles. If you were in charge of exersizing the horses, getting to ride them - Lexa couldn't think of a higher honor. Riders were even higher than the Heda in terms of honor. Riders were the epitome of the geda. And she was about to pick hers.

Their village, more so than the others, had a wide variety and a high number of horses. Tohru was, after all, in charge of not only this village but of the entire woods clan. And there were eleven other clans.

Anya led Lexa into the stable. Lexa had never been before. None of the seconds had. She was the first to be let inside. She gazed around, open mouthed. It was light and airy, the sunlight coming through the wooden planks in the ceilings and walls. There was a long hall full of stables on either side. There must have been at least fifty horses if Lexa wanted to count. Grey, black, white, tan, spotted, brown, chestnut, it was a rainbow of colors. The horses craned their necks over the bars to spot Lexa, their brown eyes large and soft. The stallions started whinnying on the left side of the barn, the mares dancing around in their stables on the right. The colts and fillys at the far end of the stable tossing their manes. Lexa never wanted to leave.

"If a horse has a tag on their stable, that means they have already been claimed by a geda. Not every geda has a horse, and not every horse has a geda. A bond must be created between horse and geda, and not everyone can do that. If you are unable to form that bond, you will simply ride one of the other horses to train, but you will not be a member of the calvary," Anya explained.

"Where is your horse?" Lexa asked. Anya stared for a moment, and then began walking down the long stable corridor. Lexa followed as they walked past black mares and tan stallions, finally arriving at a quiet stable. Lexa stood on her toes and looked into the bars.

A stallion was standing with his eyes half-closed on the far side of the stable. His coat was a midnight black, darker than the night sky, except for one leg that had a white sock up to his knee. He swished his tail to beat away the flies. "This is Levi," Anya said. She put out her hand and the horse came walking over, putting his nose in between her fingers.

Lexa reached out a hand and stroked his black nose, velvety soft. Levi nickered softly, and then snorted and retreated back into the stable. Anya adjusted the green tag hanging from the bar. "Now it's your turn. Walk among the horses. You'll know it when you feel the bond."

Lexa nodded and turned away from Anya. They were near the end of the hall, just outside where the younger horses, the foals, were kept. Lexa knew they were off limits until they had been trained, so she began to walk back towards the entrance, past the older horses.

Many of the horses had green or red tags on their stable bars, signalling that they had been taken, but a few of them hadn't. Lexa stopped at a stable with a mare - no tag. She peered inside. The mare was up against the back wall, her eyes half closed. She swished her tail at the flies. Her coat was a dark grey, with lighter spots on her rump, but Lexa didn't particularly feel anything when she looked at the mare. She was a good horse, but nothing more. Lexa turned away.

She walked past another mare, roan this time, who stuck her head out of the bars. Lexa stroked her nose for a few moments, but like last time, didn't feel anything. Again, she walked a ways past the other horses, all taken, to a stallion this time on the left side of the stable. The stallion was chestnut, with a long mane. He danced in the stall, much more animated than the other two. Lexa kept walking.

She was making her way down to the end of the hall, walking past three more horses and still not feeling anything. There was one more horse at the end. This was her last chance. She turned to face the horse.

She was a mare, dark brown, almost black. She was turned away from Lexa, facing the corner, tail swishing. "Come here," Lexa said softly, making a clicking sound with her tongue. The mare turned around, and came towards the bars, snorting. Lexa stuck her hand between the bars, and stroked her nose. The mare looked up at Lexa, and their eyes met. And Lexa knew.

"This one," she called out to Anya. Anya came over slowly, taking a look at the mare. She nodded.

"That's a good choice," she said. Then turned away and walked down to the end of the stable.

"That's it? Where are you going?" Lexa asked, running to catch up.

"Well, we have to get a blue tag to show that this mare's been claimed," Anya said. Lexa's eyes lit up. "Blue because you're a second.

"Already? We don't have to do anything else?" she asked.

"If you feel the connection, the mare is yours. I trust you're being honest. We start calvary training tomorrow. We're done for the day," Anya said, selecting a blue tag from the bin at the end. Some of the stable hands came in.

"A horse has been claimed?" asked one of the grounders.

"The brown mare near the front," Anya said.

"Ah, yes. She's been getting up there in age, we figured no one would claim her," said the stablehand. "She's turning eleven at the end of the moon cycle."

Anya turned to Lexa. "You've got an experienced horse on your hands there, think you can handle it?"

"I got this," Lexa said with a smile, turned and ran out to the village to brag to Costia about starting calvary training the next day.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hyaaa!" Lexa yelled.

"You're not even moving, Lexa," Anya said. In fact, Lexa was not even on her horse yet. She was standing on the stump, staring up at the brown mare, who stood there quietly, flicking her tail back and forth.

"Sorry," Lexa said, turning to Anya. "I got a little carried away."

"That's ok, this is your first time on a horse. I understand," Anya said. "Now. Let's try this again. Right foot in the stirrup, swing your left foot over. Ok?"

Lexa nodded. It was hard - she was getting on a horse that she had never ridden before, on a saddle that wasn't hers, wearing _shoes_ with _heels_ that were borrowed from one of the other geda. Her pants were borrowed from Anya. In fact, the only thing she had with her that _was_ hers was her bow and her shirt.

Lexa stood on the stump. The mare was so large they had to pull her up to a stump or a fallen log to get Lexa on top of the horse. She took a deep breath, then put her foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over. Suddenly she was looking down at Anya.

"See? That wasn't so bad," Anya said, smiling. "Now. You know the drill. Sit back in the saddle to stop your horse, and pull back on the reign, tap your heels on her sides to get her moving. Grip with your knees, not your hands. Remember, you only start out using the reigns. After awhile you don't get to use them - you'll be too busy with weapons in your hands."

Lexa nodded, and watched Anya smoothly mount her own horse. Lexa's mare stood still. At the very least Lexa could tell the training on her horse had been impeccable. The stable hands, after all, were one of the most respected members of the community...well, everyone was, but everyone looked up to the stable hands.

"We're going to start out nice and slow with a walk," Anya said, tapping her horse smartly with her heels. Levi started up immediately, and Anya spun him in a wide circle. Lexa watched - her first was using the reigns to show Lexa what to do, but Lexa could tell Anya was guiding her horse with her hips and her legs.

"Now it's your turn," Anya said. "Walk your mare in a circle."

Lexa nodded, and tapped her heels gently against her mare's sides. The mare started walking. Lexa threw out her arms to keep her balance as the horse moved forward.

"Let your hips move with her," Anya said. "Don't sit so stiff. You're just an extension of her."

Lexa settled into the saddle as she felt her center of gravity shift to the horse. She kept her heels down, just like Lexa told her, and felt her hips sway back and forth with the gentle amble of the mare. Her heart was racing, but she tried to keep her breath even. Lexa knew horses could sense when people were nervous and weren't in control. She pulled out the reigns to the left, walking her horse in a large counterclockwise circle, and getting back to where Anya was.

"That wasn't so hard, was it," Anya said. Lexa nodded. "Now. Follow me." Anya started walking her stallion forwards, and Lexa tapped her mare to follow. They ambled past the paddock fence and back into the forest. The grounders had cleared the large field back when they had first settled the area so the horses could have a large area to graze and exercise. The whole field was surrounded by a short wooden fence, and then opened back into the woods. It was a little ways from the village itself.

Lexa rode her horse as she plodded along behind Anya's. It got kind of boring after awhile, but Lexa didn't speak up, instead just slumping on the horse until -

"Bored?" Anya said.

Lexa sighed. Anya was not only aware enough to pick up on her energy, she would know instantly if she lied as well. "A little."

Anya nodded from up front. "It's boring at first, just walking. But we have to master the basics before we can get to the good stuff. Like swordwork, like strategy, like anything. You just have to be patient. Don't you remember your first month with me?"

"Yeah," Lexa said. "You never spoke to me."

"And you were forced to teach yourself and learn yourself and entertain yourself," Anya said. "That's why I did that. There will be days we spend together where it will feel like we barely had enough time to do everything, and perhaps we didn't it was so jam-packed with things. There will be some days when we'll have to fight, and it won't be pretty. But there will also be days, like this one, where there isn't a whole lot to do. And those are the days you have to remember the first thing that I taught you. Teach yourself. Find what you can use in that moment and make it your own."

Lexa nodded. But it still didn't change the fact that the ride was long and kind of boring. But luckily they got back to camp and practiced archery for a while, which got Lexa's blood flowing again. And then they practiced tree climbing, and Anya even let Lexa smear ash over her face for fake warpaint to camouflage into the trees better. All in all, when they walked back into the village that night as night began to fall, Lexa was feeling a lot better than that morning, and she bragged about it to all the other seconds.

"You got to ride a horse?" Ophus and Alana said together, while Reed chimed in with "No fair, you barely started archery!" at the same time that Gabe and Yunto said a variation of "She hasn't even started swordwork yet!" and Costia sat wide-eyed and asked, "Does it have a name? Is it a he or a she? Did you feel the connection?"

Lexa laughed. "She doesn't have a name yet, but yes, she was the last horse in the stable and I felt it. She's eleven years old!"

"What did it feel like?" Costia asked in a hushed voice.

"It was..." Lexa trailed off as she remembered picking out the mare, the intuition of knowing that it was the right choice, the warm feeling she got when she looked into the mare's eyes. "Well...you'll know it when you feel it."

"So how was riding?" asked Yontu from the stump across the log circle.

"Actually, it's not too interesting yet," Lexa admitted. The seconds' faces fell. "But only because you start at a walk. I'm sure when we start to canter and gallop, that's gonna get interesting. And I can't wait to start archery from horseback." Lexa mimed shooting a bow and arrow.

The other seconds laughed, and then the fights started. Lexa was called to fight Yontu, and barely lost, only just because she blinked at the exact wrong moment and he caught her in an uppercut that sent her careening to the ground, but then got her pebble back against Reed by knocking him over with a foot sweep. She and Costia sat next to each other and watched Alana and Sanse fight it out.

"I can't wait until I get a horse, if I even make a connection," Costia said with her chin on her hands, looking up at the stars but not really seeing anything, too busy imagining riding a horse.

"I think you will," Lexa said. "There are quite a few horses.

"You have no idea how jealous I am of you," Costia said with a sigh, and turned to look at Lexa. Their eyes met for a moment, and Lexa felt a warm feeling not unlike how she felt with her horse spread just below her stomach. She laughed nervously, and looked away.

"I mean, I haven't started any melee combat. At this rate I probably won't even pick up a spear until I reach ten and five, much less a sword...

"Well, how old are you now?" Costia said. "We're all about the same age."

"I'm ten," Lexa said. "But I'll be ten and one at the next moon."

"I'm ten and one," Costia said with a grin. "I turned a year a few weeks ago."

"Well, welll now," Lexa said and the two girls giggled. "I'll catch up soon enough."

"Can you even imagine being as old as our firsts?" asked Costia. "They're so old...like, twenty and three and twenty and four..."

"Well, the heda is even older, he must be at least sixty..." Lexa said. "We'll be there soon enough. We're gonna start growing so fast we'll be taller than our firsts. And stronger."

"I'd like to see that," Costia said with a smirk. "We'll be there soon." Then Sanse, who had just knocked over Alana with a punch to the ribs, called Costia over to fight Janus.


	7. Chapter 7

"Come." The voice was cold, hard and fast. It was the moment in the morning when the dawn was just beginning to emerge, the sky just beginning to turn grey and the birds just beginning to wake up, not having started their morning serenade yet. The village was still asleep, the farmers and the geda just beginning to russle for the morning duties. Lexa was curled up with the other seconds, wrapped in her blanket, her hair a mess, eyes still slightly groggy. The voice reached out and shook her shoulder and Lexa shook off her sleep, awake and alert.

"Anya," she said, rising to a crouch.

"The Isagedakru. It's time to strike," Anya said. It was still dim, but Lexa could see her outline.

Lexa nodded. It had been weeks, but the geda never let harm go unrepaid. She was expecting this to happen sooner or later. She just wished she was better at riding.

Next to her the other seconds were beginning to rise. Anya nodded and Lexa grabbed her things and threw on her borrowed riding pants and boots, her knife and her most precious archery set resting on the side of the tent. She followed Anya outside.

The geda rushed about, gathering supplies. Lexa followed Anya in a straight shot over to the stables, and together they got their horses from their stables and roped them to the sides of the stable. The other geda were there gathering the horses, the stable hands were calm but their motions were quick and efficient, the horses themselves were antsy to move, to run, to fight.

Anya helped Lexa saddle up the brown mare, and then saddled her own horse. The two of them followed the stream of other geda, horses prancing, nickering and snorting. The village now was awake as Anya clasped her hands together and helped Lexa into the saddle. This was it. Lexa had only just ridden for the first time yesterday but somehow she wasn't afraid. Her knees gripped the mare tightly, her heels down, her back straight. She rested her hands on the saddle - they would be shooting in a bit, for now they would stand there.

Anya mounted her own stallion and they were off, cantering through the trees. At first Lexa was terrified, gripping the saddle with her hands and closing her eyes. But as they moved through the trees, it started to make more sense. Lexa didn't have to steer too much, her mare was following the other horses, but she felt her hips move as the horse's legs moved. She no longer needed to hold on as much, and she took her bow off her shoulder. Anya looked back at Lexa, and tossed her a jar. Lexa snatched it out of the air. Inside was a mixture of ash and water and mud - warpaint. Anya had already painted her eyes black. Lexa reached into the jar and grabbed a fingerful, smearing it across her eyes and nose, letting it drip down like she had before.

High above the horses the tregedakru moved through the trees, swinging and running. Around her the other geda were screaming and yelling, urging their horses onward even faster, holding up their swords, knives, axes, bows, maces and spears, waving their hands. Far above one of the geda blew a hunting horn and the bellow echoed through the woods. The isagedakru might have been surprised possibly, but no longer.

And then there was fighting. Enemies appeared out of nowhere, some of them on horses but most on foot. Lexa had to give it to them - they might have a disadvantage but they were giving it their all. One after another she drew arrows and shot them into the trees. Most of them missed her targets, and the of the ones that did hit their target, most were held up in the armor of the isagedakru. They ran through the trees with spears, attempting to stab the horses' chests. The tregedakru had hung metal plates attached to the saddles to protect the horses, or wrapped blankets to protect them, but Lexa heard among the noise the screams of the animals that were injured or killed.

The foot tregedakru arrived a few minutes later and the battle renewed with a fury. This wasn't just about revenge. It was about punishment. The isagedakru and picked one of the most powerful clans to turn against, and the tregedakru weren't about to let them forget it.

On the surged, stabbing, swiping, shooting, screaming. Suddenly Lexa saw, once again, an isagedakru lunging for her first. Time slowed down as she drew an arrow, her last, from her quiver and nocked it. She breathed out for just a moment, aiming, and released the string. A small movement, just a straightening of the fingers, and yet it had deadly consequences. The arrow flew straight and fast, piercing the neck of the isagedakru, who fell with a scream. Anya looked up for just a moment, her eyes meeting Lexa's, before turning and swiping with her sword at the next isagedakru.

And just for that moment it seemed like the tregedakru was winning - the isagedakru were retreating back to their village, the tregedakru cheering and yelling - but it was not to last. A new enemy entered the fray. At first Lexa thought these warriors were more isagedakru, reinforcements joining the battle fresh and ready, but these warriors were different. She watched in horror as they appeared in hoards, large, muscled, bloodthirsty. She watched stock still as a group of the warriors surrounded a horse and pull down the geda screaming. The warriors tore him apart, and she realized with a scream that could wake the dead that the geda they had captured was Milo.

Anya appeared at her shoulder. In the chaos and the noise Lexa hadn't heard the retreat horn. The tregedakru disappeared into the trees like they had first appeared. Lexa rode numb. Costia was safe in the trees, thank the earth, but Milo. How could they have captured Milo? What was Costia going to do?

"Don't look," Anya said, her words somehow making it into Lexa's ears. They rode through the trees, Lexa not hearing anything, just staring into the trees numbly. She didn't register when they had made it back to camp, and she blindly dismounted, falling on the ground to her knees, staring at the ground. The grass began to spin around her, and she fell, twisting.

Her world was disrupted by a rough pull of the shoulders. Lexa didn't want to come back. She wanted to stay in the world of confusion. It was easy to understand, she didn't have to think. But this rough touch was shaking her, pulling her back.

The spell was broken when Anya slapped her cheek. Lexa breathed in, gasping. "Get ahold of yourself!" Anya snapped. Lexa looked up.

"You cannot do that," Anya said, and Lexa understood finally that she was angry. More angry that she had ever been. "You can't freeze like that. Do you understand me?"

Lexa didn't know if she did. Anya's words were harsh and rough, and Lexa wanted to return to her spinning, soft world. The world that made sense, where she didn't have to feel anything at all.

"You can't freeze in battle. Even if we've won. You froze when...they took Milo. Even if you don't know who they are. You always have to move. You have to pay attention. You have to listen for the calls. To know when to advance, to retreat. It's too dangerous when you freeze," Anya said, and then it clicked. Anya had been scared. Far more scared that she would like to admit. Lexa emerged from the soft place. Her first's shoulders were tense, her fists balled up. Lexa looked into Anya's eyes, and though they were under a frown, there were tears in her eyes.

"When you freeze like that..." Anya started to say, but trailed off. Lexa knew. She ran forward and Anya opened her arms and enveloped Lexa in them. The sekon hugged the geda for perhaps a few seconds or maybe an hour, or perhaps they stood there for an entire day like that, Lexa's face buried in Anya's shoulder, Anya's forehead resting on the top of Lexa's head, her hand stroking Lexa's hair, messily braided like usual.

Lexa nodded. "I know. I'm sorry, geda."

Anya pulled away and slapped her again. "Always listen to me. Now, let's clean up our horses. And then we can be done for today. No more training after that. I'll need to talk to the heda, along with the other geda."

"Do you want me to come?" Lexa asked.

"Perhaps. But when you're done with your horse, I want you to talk to Costia. I think she is the one who would appreciate your company most at this moment," Anya said. Lexa nodded, and together the geda and the sekon unsaddled their horses and brushed out their sweaty hair, matted with blood and dirt, washing them out with rags soaked in cool water.

Lexa murmured to the mare, who was shaking, just like the sekon. "Shhhhh, girl," Lexa said. She began to sing to the mare, just a made up little song. "Seehanselaya," Lexa sang. "Neerenayasanasaya."

The horse bobbed her head as Lexa sang. "Hm. Maybe that should be your name," Lexa said. "Renaya. Maybe I'll call you Naya for short." The mare seemed to like it, although Lexa wasn't sure if she was imagining it or not after the battle. Every little movement seemed slightly exaggerated.

She put Naya in the stables, locking the door and making sure the blue tag was on it's spot. She looked over at Anya, who was still brushing Levi. Lexa guessed Anya would be brushing Levi for a very long time. Anya looked up and nodded that Lexa could leave.

Lexa wandered through the village, half numb and half focused, one thing on her mind - Costia. She searched high and low, in the seconds' tent, by the log circle where they ate dinner, by the food, in the stables, at the edge of camp. She looked up at the sun, now approaching later in the sky. The battle had made the day fly by. And then Lexa knew where Costia was. She went over and grabbed a canteen of water and a few of the ashcakes they had made in the fire, putting them in a bag and slinging it over her shoulder. As she ran she took off her riding pants and her boots she her toes were on the ground. Milo moved to the back of her head as she started running, flying through the woods, and was replaced by Costia.

She got to the cliff, the same cliff that one, amazing, brilliant, beautiful night she and Costia had looked into the stars. It was the same view, only this time the late afternoon sun was blazing in the sky, creating long shadows and making it so Lexa couldn't quite see.

And there she was, sitting by the tree. Lexa almost couldn't see the sun was so bright, but she walked forward. Costia heard her through the trees and turned around, their eyes meeting. She was silhouetted by the sky, the sun creating a halo around her head. Her eyes were close to blank, too close, but the moment they saw Lexa all of the feeling flooded back into them and Lexa ran forward and she was crying too, the only place she wanted to be right now was Costia's arms.

The two girls collided into one another, equal forces meeting and cancelling. Costia didn't say anything, she didn't need to. They wrapped around each other, arms pulling bodies closer so that you couldn't tell who was who anymore, it was just one of them. And Costia was crying and Lexa was crying and their tears blended together into one storm, and the world was rocking around them but they held steady as the sun moved forward in the sky.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: sorry about the lack of update last week! Was out of town, and will be next weekend too. But yes, I will be trying to update every Sunday from now on, in case you haven't figured it out yet. Thank you for reading! It means so much :)

Lexa awoke in the middle of the night with a start. She opened her eyes and gasped, her breathing heavy, her body drenched in sweat. The night was dark around her, the tent filled with the sounds of sleep. The sekons had all gone to bed shaken, scared, and exhausted. Most of them had been unable to cope with the fact that Milo, a true geda and the mentor of one of their own, had been killed, no less by a monster no one was ready to face. So naturally, they had given in to sleep, the easiest and most accessible way to deal with the pain. Other things came after - forgetting, madness, even suicide - but for now, sleep was the door through which they had crossed. Except now Lexa was no longer in that happy place. Or at least, happy for some. For her it hadn't been.

Her dreams had been haunted by more than one thing - Milo being torn apart by the mysterious people, the screams he had uttered in his last moment of death, the fear that Anya would be taken away, and oddly enough, she had been jerked awake with the image of an arrow through the isagedakru warrior's neck.

Lexa had killed other geda before, in the first battle. But for some reason this one haunted her. She blinked and stretched. There was probably no way she was going to fall back asleep after this. She turned and looked around.

The other sekons all slept in the same tent, a mess of blankets and mats and cloth and personal items hanging from the roof. On the north side of the tent slept the boys, and on the south side slept the girls. She heard Yunto softly snoring from the other side of the tent. The sekons hadn't reached an age yet where they crawled into each other's beds in anything but an innocent matter, and tonight wasn't unusual. Reed and Ophus were sharing the same mat, as were Alana and Sanse, curled up under one blanket. Even Lexa wasn't excluded; Costia was curled up next to her as she sat up. The sekons had turned to each other for comfort that night, some of them unable to sleep alone. She looked down at Costia. Her best friend's eyes were closed, and underneath her eyes moved quickly as though she was searching for something. Her lips were relaxed in an ever-so-slight frown, and her brow was ever-so-slightly pulled together. Lexa wasn't surprised. Had Anya been killed...well, needless to say she didn't want to ever entertain the thought but her dreams would probably be unpleasant, if she was able to sleep at all.

The tent suddenly became much colder and Lexa pulled her knees in and wrapped the wool blanket around her. She only wore a long, ratty shirt to bed. Luckily the heat of the other sekons and the thick blankets they were given were able to combat the chilly nights, but this coldness came from inside Lexa. It was not a good cold, like the winter sometimes brings, the kind of cold where you can see your breath and your nose is red and you have to wear many shirts and wrap a scarf around your neck and a hat over your hair, this was the kind of cold that started deep in her stomach and spread itself down slowly to her toes and out to her fingers, the kind of cold that made her shiver even if the night had been warm.

Lexa stared ahead, lost in thought, her head a jumbled mess of the memories of the afternoon. Tomorrow wouldn't be any better; the heda would have to conduct the funeral ceremony, which would of course make the pain worse. And the pain would last for a long time, even longer for Costia, and it probably wouldn't ever go completely away, just tucked in the back of her mind amidst the good memories and occasionally pulled out and dusted off and then deep in her stomach she would feel a shiver, even if she was remembering the time that Milo and Costia had surprised her in the trees on guard duty that one time, or the first time she had seen Milo ride into battle. But that was a long, long way off. Right now the pain was still fresh, like a wound that hasn't scabbed yet. She shivered again.

Lexa looked back at Costia. It helped to ease the pain, looking down at her friend and being grateful that at least Costia hadn't been taken. Her friend might be crippled, shocked, hurt, and never be the same again, but she was here. And maybe someday in the future, hopefully someday in the future, Costia would smile again, that secret smile the two of them shared, the smile you share with the person who knows everything about you and loves you more than you could ever know...

Lexa smiled. It was the first time she had smiled since before yesterday, and even though it wasn't a very long time it felt like it was, the muscles felt like a hundred years old, creaking and groaning like an old oak tree feeling the sun after a long rain, or a rock that had a coating of ice that was just now cracking and exposing its skin to the warmth. Costia could do that. She could make Lexa smile no matter what was happening.

But Lexa didn't know if she could make Costia smile. Not after what happened. And her smile disappeared like a hare that had been spotted, gone like a wisp of steam evaporating in the sun. And the coldness, which seconds ago had been dispersed by the slow warmth, was back. And so was Lexa's frown. She shivered again.

And then jumped as she felt a hand through the soft fabric of the tent. Outside the tent she heard a soft shhh. Lexa threw on her overshirt and stepped outside. It was her geda, Anya. "Come," Anya said, turning and walking into the night. Lexa followed.

Anya took her through the woods, below the trees. The nightlife in the forest was alive and well, despite the terror that had occurred in the village that day. The owls in the trees hooted, echoing through the forest. Below, Lexa's sensitive trained ears picked up the scurryings of the mice and squirrels. She followed the footsteps, silent on the leaf-covered ground. Eventually she found herself following Anya into the clearing where they trained, the extra bows and arrows safe, waterproofed inside the shelter, the remains of the fire pit in the center of the clearing, the trees riddled with holes and dents where they practiced shooting. Anya sat down on the ground, legs crossed, and touched her fingers to the ground in front of her. Lexa came over.

"Sit," Anya said. Lexa sat, the geda and sekon together in silence. Lexa felt Anya undo her messy braids, the braids she had to do herself in the mornings because she had no mother to do it for her, but she had been doing ever since she had come. It wasn't a chore. But the braids were always crooked or coming apart since she couldn't see the back of her head. Anya's long, dexterous fingers combed through Lexa's brown, curly mane, taming it. The feeling of the fingers in her hair lulled Lexa and cleared her mind from the nightmares that plagued her, awake and asleep. And it was only day one after the battle. These hauntings would continue to haunt her for as long as she could imagine, until the day she died.

Anya knew, without Lexa having to say anything. They shared the emotion together, silently mourning the loss of Milo. A ceremony would be held tomorrow, a vigil held. The village was in too much of an uproar to do it the day of. The strange warriors had come and the tregedakru were scared for the first time in years.

Lexa had almost fallen asleep again when Anya finally finished, her hair smooth and shiny, all of the kinks from her own braids worked out and replaced by fresh ones. Anya had left most of the hair down, to give it a break from being bent into the braids it normally was in.

"Come," Anya said. Lexa came after her, reaching out for Anya's hand in the darkness. The geda clasped her sekon's hand, leading her through the night and back to the sekon's tent. Anya led her to the flap leading inside. Lexa could hear the sounds of sleep inside, and smiled. This time she would probably be able to get to sleep much easier than the last time. Perhaps she might be jerked awake again by the arrow piercing the isagedakru's neck, or the image of Milo being pulled down into the warriors and torn apart. But Lexa knew Anya was there, and as long as she was there everything might be ok again. Anya and Costia. Who was in the tent now.

"Thank you," Lexa whispered in the night. Anya had already left, but Lexa knew that she had heard. Lexa lifted the flap and with her bare feet tip-toed through the sleeping sekons, some of them with frowns on their faces from nightmares, some of them lucky enough to be sleeping dreamless that night, the exhaustion and fear from the other night successfully knocking them out. It had been one thing when a fellow sekon had died - they were inexperienced warriors. Perhaps half of them would make it through to become full gedas. It was painful and sad and horrifying, but expected. But to watch a first, a geda, be torn apart, that instilled a fear that could never be countered. Even on the days of safety, to watch the pillar of a fortress fall shows the very foundation of the fortress' weakness. The sekons were terrified.

And Lexa was no exception. But she was safe, Anya was alive. And she would do all she could to protect Costia at all costs. Costia had lost everything. And Lexa wasn't about to let her lose anything else. She saw Costia curled up, the blanket thrown down to her waist. Lexa crawled into the mat, curled up behind Costia, wrapping Costia in her arms and tucking the blanket back into it's place. Lexa buried her face in Costia's beautiful, black, glossy hair. Deep, deep in her sleep Costia unconsciously moved closer to Lexa's warm body. Lexa closed her eyes and this time, sleep came to her, silent, steady and still. There were no dreams to haunt her. Not until she opened her eyes. But that wasn't until morning.


	9. Chapter 9

"So. Now has come the time to discuss the warriors during the battle with the isagedakru." The heda looked up from the head of the table. Anya sat there, along with the other strong geda. Juram and Corin sat to Tohru's left, Connor and Anya to his right. The rest of the geda along the table. The sekons stood behind their firsts, all except Costia, who sat in a place of honor to the right of Tohru. There hadn't been time to find her a second geda mentor, but the problem would be solved along with the mountain of others lined up in front of them.

The geda nodded their heads solemnly. Lexa noticed Anya had the slight crease in her forehead she always got when she was worried, but the crease was mixed with her bottom lip that she always tightened whenever she got mad. It was an odd combination, but it summed up what most everyone at the table was feeling. The sekons stood still and quiet behind the geda. They knew now was not the time to fidget and play like they sometimes did at the tribe meetings.

"Milo has given his life honorably, along with several other geda during the battle, and we give a moment of silence for his memory." Everyone at the table, geda, healer, sekon, bowed their heads for a moment. "But now has come the time to avenge him. Tregedakru do not take offense lightly. Now, not only has isagedakru become enemies with us, so have these warriors of unknown origins.

"To begin, we need to discuss everything we know about them at the moment. There were several witnesses at the table to the event," Tohru continued, and then paused. He turned and looked at Lexa. She froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. She glanced at Anya, who gave the slightest of nods.

"Sekon Lexa," Tohru said, speaking Lexa's name with his deep, commanding voice. She looked into his face. Lexa had never had a chance to look into Tohru's eyes. He was a tall man, dark skinned, with his black hair combed back. During battle he left it wild and untamed, a black curly mane. Usually their heda was clean shaven, but there were beginnings of a beard (understandably so). His dark brown eyes looked into Lexa's for a moment. His nose was a sharp, hooked nose. His teeth were bright white. Lexa watched him take a breath. "You were the primary witness to the event. I need to to tell the geda everything that you saw. Can you do that?" The last question wasn't directed at the table; it was spoken softly, to Lexa herself.

Lexa's throat felt suddenly dry, and the urge to urinate flew through her lower stomach, disappearing as fast as it came. Her knees trembled ever so slightly. And she hadn't even begin to remember what happened. But she swallowed, and inside she shook off her nerves. The geda would understand what happened.

Lexa closed her eyes, seeing the event burned on the inside of her eyelids. About to be victorious, when suddenly a new enemy had flooded into the area. Dark, huge men, all male. Their faces were hidden under hoods and skulls and masks, their arms huge, their body bearlike. They had reached out with talonous hands, their fingernails great dirty claws as they had gone straight for Milo's stallion, reaching out, their finger scrabbling as they had torn open cuts in the side of the horse. The stallion had screamed and gone down, Milo disappearing into the crowd of warriors. No, warriors was too honorable. These men were devils, evil. They were reapers of the geda. Reapers of death. They had ripped him apart, blood spurting everywhere, staining their faces and masks red. Their arms were covered in it, wet and dark -

Suddenly Lexa's eyes flew open as she felt wetness spreading out on her legs. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she choked on her own words, swallowing the whole story. Tears came, hot and furious down her cheeks and she couldn't see, but she felt strong hands grab her, lift her up as her sobs suddenly burst out of her lungs, throat-wrenching screams, enough to make her voice crack into pieces.

It was Anya who had carried her out and set her underneath a tree. Roughly she wiped her sekon's eyes with a dirty handkerchief. Lexa's sob died down and she panted for a few minutes before she finally had regained enough self control to take a deep breath and regain control of her body.

"That's enough," Anya said. Lexa looked up. "It's awful. I know. Let's get you cleaned up." Anya lifted Lexa up, dragged her over to the sekon's tent, got her a clean pair of pants, wiped away the tears as Lexa dry sobbed, eyes wide open, shocked. Anya returned Lexa to the tree, gently tucking her hair behind her ear, staring into her eyes. "I'll be back soon." She rubbed her finger across Lexa's tear tracks, wiping them away before disappearing into the tent to return to the meeting.

Lexa stared into nothing, the image was buried again. Reliving it was too painful. She couldn't even imagine if Costia had been in her position, or worse, if it had been Anya pulled under instead of Milo. Both pictures were too repulsive to imagine, Lexa quickly buried them. She put her hands over her eyes, closing them to the pain she was in.

She sunk, slowly but surely, into the ground below her, felt her entire body sinking down as her mind cleared and the darkness behind her lids grew, slowly she could see the reds and browns and yellows behind her eyelids. The sun came out and suddenly it was a fiery red, a color that oddly made her think of Costia.

And then she knew. For Costia. She had to tell the geda for Costia. There was no other reason in Lexa's mind. For Costia. She opened her eyes, the sunlight blinding them. She blinked a few times, staring up into the sky, almost like she was a newborn again, experiencing the sun for the very first time in her life. Soon, her eyes were used to the light again, and how on earth could she have ever left? The light was so beautiful, so bright. Costia stood up, feeling her muscles stretch and pull, her toes in the dirt, wiggling and feeling the cool earth underneath. She took a deep breath, pulling all of her focus, all of her concentration. She was ready.

With confident steps she walked to the tent flap. She stopped for a moment, as though she was about to go into battle for the first time, a hand resting on the fabric, feeling the hides beneath her skin. Another deep breath, and she pulled aside the flap. Her heart was pounding in her chest, the blood rushing in her ears. She couldn't really hear what the heda was saying. She couldn't comprehend the words. But with a pause, the heda stopped speaking, and the geda's heads turned to face her. But Lexa didn't see the sea of eyes. She saw three pairs: the dark, dark brown of the heda, the hazel eyes of Anya, and the bright blue eyes of Costia at the end of the table.

Lexa opened her mouth and this time, the story poured out. She ignored the growing look of horror on the heda's face, nor the mixture of satisfaction, pride, and fear on Anya's. The only thing she could see was the widening blue sea of Costia's eyes, unblinking. Tears began to form under them. The story rolled out of her throat, a rolicking sea, a rainstorm, unabashed and thunderous, even though her voice was no louder than a gentle murmur.

And then it was over. The story told, the event relived through. And Lexa had made it out the other side. Alive, still. Because, after all, it was only the past. The heda nodded. "Thank you, Lexa. You may take your place behind Anya, or leave if you need to."

"No. My place is behind my geda," Lexa said, then walked slowly behind Anya. Her first, unseen to the rest of the table, bent her hand back, holding her fingers out. Lexa leaned imperceptably forward and touched her first's hand for a moment, for a little bit more courage. Her eyes met the blue of Costia's one more time, seeing the fear in them, but seeing the trust in them too. It was thrilling.

Lexa didn't hear the rest of the meeting; then again, she didn't really need to. The heda dismissed the warriors, and Lexa poured out with the rest of them, to go off and do the rest of the village duties to the best of their abilities.

That night the ceremony of sending off the warriors was held. Their bodies, or at least the bodies they had, were burned on the pyre, the whole stack of wood going up in a huge blaze of flame. The heat burned the geda if they stood to close. Lexa stood between Anya on one side, watching the flames with a look you couldn't tell what the feeling was behind it, and Costia on the other side. Costia, facing the fire as the heda spoke the words, "Yu gonplei ste odon," gently reached out and brushed her fingers against Lexa's. Lexa felt a shiver run down her spine, and caught Costia's hand, intertwining her darker fingers with Costia's pale ones. The warmth spread out, and even though they stood in front of the fire together, Lexa felt warm for the first time that night. She closed her eyes. The vigil would be long that night, but she would spend as long as she needed. She had the two people she cared most about by her side. Nothing would harm her.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Again, sorry for the miss in upload; it's a longer one to make up for it. Summer's coming to a close so I might not have as much time to write. I'm going to try and get as much done before I have to go back to school, but uploads might dwindle to every other Sunday. But I hope you guys stick around; the story's gonna get interesting soon :3

"I think it's time we did something different," Anya said. She had Levi on the side of the path deep in the woods. Lexa reigned in Naya and strung her bow over her shoulder. The sekon and geda had been practicing archery from horseback, and Lexa proved adept at it as Anya had watched her sekon land hit after hit as she galloped through the woods, each arrow landing in the center of the target. She had managed to pin both straw dummies through the neck, and had even managed to clip the hanging target on the bottom left corner. Lexa's heart was just now starting to wind down from the adrenaline rush.

"What do you mean?" Lexa said. "I still have to practice. I missed that fourth target's center mark by about an inch, and did you see the hanging target? It was practically shameful. The arrow wasn't even in the blue circle, it was in the white."

"No." Anya said, reigning in Levi, who had spotted a particularly lush piece of grass on the side of the dirt path. The first had noticed that after Milo's death, Lexa had thrown herself into her training with a fury that rivaled when they had first started, even after Costia had been assigned to a new first, Kaushik. Every day she pushed herself to the limit, her face growing red-purple with effort, her muscles straining. She worked Naya too, every time they practiced calvary skills. And Lexa's skill with archery, even in these few short weeks, and skyrocketed. "Come."

Lexa was used to Anya never revealing the full story of the training. One time she had led Lexa into the woods blindfolded with nothing but her archery set and Lexa had been tasked with finding her way home and shooting every target that she spotted in the trees. Lexa had no problem completing the task, nor the numerous archery practices Anya had made her do, nor the push with calvary practice. Lexa could gallop with ease at this point. When she mounted Naya, it was like they became one unit. She could steer her horse without the reigns. Despite all of this, Lexa refused to move on from archery. She had not mastered the skill, therefore she could not move forward.

Anya led Lexa back to the village to the stables, and together they unsaddled their horses and brushed them down, turning them out into the pasture to cool. Anya climbed into the trees and Lexa followed, swinging on branches and climbing through the leaves like a squirrel. They reached the clearing, and Anya jumped down. Lexa followed, dispersing the energy of the fall into a neat summersault and landing on a knee, her bare feet clinging to the earth. She breathed for a moment, and then joined Anya in front of her. Anya was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the clearing. She patted the earth in front of her, and Lexa sat down.

It had become something of a secret practice that Anya braided Lexa's hair after Milo had left. Despite Milo not being Lexa's first, she had still taken it hard. Lexa spent all of her free time with Costia, and the two had grown remarkably close. It was almost like Lexa didn't even have to speak, Costia already knew what she was going to say. And Anya had been a huge help as well. Her training and mentoring helped distract Lexa from the harsh reality, despite Anya constantly telling her that she needed to face the reality of life as Tregedakru. And life on the ground no matter what people you were with.

"Summer is coming to a close," Anya began as she combed through Lexa's hair. "We'll need to start stockpiling meat for the coming winter."

"I know," Lexa said, before she could keep her sass to herself. Anya responded with a painful tug on Lexa's hair before continuing.

"I know you know," Anya said. "No doubt you've seen the leaves begin to yellow on certian trees, and the goldenrods bloom, and the mayapples ripen and harvested. The signs are clear as ever. Now. You know that the start of fall is of course, the equinox."

"One of two times day and night are exactly equal," Lexa intoned. "The other being in the spring."

"Well, the equinox is one of four days that the Tregedakru meet," Anya said.

"How do you mean?" Lexa asked. This was the first time she was hearing about the Tregedakru higherups and their workings.

"Well, our village is part of the Tregedakru people. Our village is one tribe in the Tregedakru. There are twelve other tribes. You knew at least there were other tribes, as you are one of the sekons that is not from this village; you left your parents to come here." Lexa nodded, this was all true. She hadn't known how many tribes there were, but she had known there were others beyond their village.

"Well, the reason that happens is because each class of sekons, at the beginning of the summer, all of the year tens from the entirety of the 12 tribes are sent to one tribe. And it rotatoes. So one year, the class of sekons is sent to the first tribe, the next year they're sent to another tribe, and so on until you get to tribe 12 and then it starts again. This is why you are the only sekons in our village."

"How big are the groups of sekons?" Lexa asked. Currently, their were nine sekons.

"It depends. Your year is rather small, likely from the huge famine that hit the year before you were born. They can be anywhere from around ten sekons to upwards of fifty, which I'm sure for you is hard to imagine." Lexa nodded - if they were able to cram 10 sekons barely into one tent, then a group of fifty sekons must need five or six to fit everyone.

"But remember. Sekons don't always make it. By the time you become a geda when you're twenty, perhaps three of your other sekons will have made it. Classes of fifty, maybe fifteen will make it. It's tough living in this world. So two things will happen. The first is that you will be coming with me to the equinox tribal meeting. Each heda from each tribe, along with the commander of the Tregedakru, meets in the central village. And each heda is allowed to bring anywhere from one to five of their strongest geda. Tohru has already informed me that he will be bringing me to the meeting, and geda, if they have a sekon, are allowed to bring their sekons."

"Is anyone else going?" Lexa asked.

Anya sighed as she finished combing Lexa's knotted hair and separated the curly brown mane into strands to begin braiding. "I do not know. Tohru does not tell the geda the others he brings. My guess, he'll be bringing Connor and Juram, possibly Danith as well. But I have no idea. Perhaps he will only be bringing me, although I think this is unlikely. Heda like to show off their strongest warriors."

"Will..." Lexa tried to start, but she couldn't finish. Anya knew.

"I don't know. Kaushik is a fine warrior, but I don't know if Tohru will chose him. He would have taken Milo, had Milo survived. But that will be a subject of the meeting - the reapers. I don't doubt they'll make another appearance, and we need to learn about this new enemy."

"So what's the next thing we'll be working on?" Lexa asked as Anya tied off Lexa's braid. She turned around and looked at her first's brown hair, braided neatly, her dark brown eyes, her flat, round face.

"You need to move on from archery. You have proven yourself worthy enough. Not even Connor can be perfect at every moment. Part of the art of mastering a weapon is knowing when you are good enough. Even with constant practice, every moment of every day, you will still make mistakes. Mind you, we will still be practicing every day. But it will no longer be our focus. It is time for you to move on."

Lexa nodded. It was time. "So then. What is the task."

"You know what to do. Find a tree that speaks to you. Hardwood only." Lexa stood, and turned from her mentor into the woods. For the first time in the weeks that had passed since Milo's death was Lexa alone, and she slowly breathed in the scent of the forest. Her hand dragged across the trees, caressing the bark. It had been a long time since she had been with the mother. The earth kept tearing things away from her, and Costia. And breaking Costia's heart broke Lexa's more than she could imagine. But alone in the woods, everything went away. She was tregedakru, after all. Her people were the trees, and the trees were her people.

Her fingers lingered on the smooth bark of the hornbeam. Its strong ironwood called to her. It was a young tree, thin like a whip, perhaps twenty years old if that. Just like Lexa. The tree was short and flexible, it swayed in the wind, and yet when Lexa gave its branches a tug it held fast.

"This one," Lexa said, and an overwhelming sense of deja vú hit her, her head spinning almost as if she had vertigo. Because she had done this before, to make her bow. A fine bow it was, made of that ash tree. And this hornbeam, Lexa thought, would also serve her, become her companion as the bow had. She turned, and as always, Anya stood there, hovering between the trees. "This one," Lexa repeated. Anya nodded. The tree was downed and carried back to camp, Lexa sorry the earth had to give up a being to make a tool and a weapon, but grateful for the tree she provided.

Anya showed Lexa how to peel away the bark and carve the hornbeam into a strong, sturdy shaft. Lexa already knew what was happening. The tree had told her before Anya needed to, just as Anya had said. The days started to blend together, just as they had when they were making Lexa's bow. The shaft was fire hardened slowly, sanded to smoothness, and etched. Lexa found herself in a schedule: everyday the shaft was worked, then the bow was practiced, the horse ridden, the food eaten, the sekons fought, Costia would sleep, and then Lexa, and then the days repeated. They were in a moment of peace as the week passed, the battles with the Isagedakru not forgotten, but moved to the back of the mind, and the reapers were studied and talked about behind closed doors as the equinox approached.

The shaft was completed at the end of the week, and Anya produced a piece of rock so black it resembled the night sky as the light reflected off the stone, bouncing and twinkling like stars.

"Obsidian," Anya told Lexa that day. "A stone sharper than steel. We'll make your spearhead from this."

Lexa nodded, and Anya showed her how to carve a pressure flaker, and together they flaked off chinks of the obsidian until slowly a leaf-shaped blade appeared about the size of Lexa's hand. Anya showed Lexa where the pine resin was at the tops of the tree, and together they climbed higher and higher to harvest the resin, boiling it and mixing it together with charcoal until it was the perfect consistency. They bound the spearhead to the shaft with the glue and string until the golden syrup hardened into a thick, black crust, the string binding the spearhead to the shaft until the whole spear was stronger than the hornbeam itself. At the end of two weeks, the spear Lexa held was awesome, almost bringing her to tears. The whole weapon was a head longer than she.

"Now," Anya said, once the weapon was complete. "Your second task. You must track an animal. The equinox is a fortnight away. You must find an animal before that time."

Lexa nodded. The next morning, she awoke early, no weapons with her, dressed in her usual dusty frock and leggings, her feet bare, a jacket over her shoulders in the cool morning air. Her bow was strung over her shoulder, her arrows collected in a leather quiver, a small bladder of water at her hip.

The Tregedakru had always had a respectful attitude towards hunting. Each animal was sacred in among itself, and therefore must be treated with respect. Lexa was expected to find an animal. So she did. She spent hours wandering through the forest, looking for the signs of deer. Broken branches where the animal had walked past, grasses where the animals had nibbled and ripped up, the gentle, vague tracks in the mud from weeks ago, hardened scat. Lexa followed the signs, and the hours turned to days. She soon learned that she wouldn't be able to return to the village at night. The last night she put together a pack of things she would need, and said goodbye to Costia and Anya. And she went further and further. The further she went from the village the fresher the tracks became. The scat went from being a week old to being days old, to steaming. The prints became fresher, the signs more recent. Lexa felt like she knew the herd of deer: it was a mother doe, three younger juveniles and an older doe. The older doe's leg was injured; this was the deer that Lexa needed.

And then one day she saw them. She was creeping through the woods, moving as slow as the trees around her on her fingertips and toes, when through the trees she saw them, unaware of her presence, peeling off the bark of the trees to chew. Lexa stayed perfectly still. The three younger deer had their heads down. It was two boys and a girl. Lexa smiled, finally knowing who they were. The older doe was off to the side, her tail down, chewing on the bark of the pines. Lexa, barely moving, picked up a small stone and sent it flying through the trees to the far side of the clearing. It landed with a sharp crack, and just like that the younger doe's tail was up like a whiff of smoke, and the five of them bounded through the trees.

And then every day following that meeting Lexa would see the deer. She would stay outside of their vision, and though they may have known she was there, they did not acknowledge her. And another few days past and Lexa's deadline was approaching. She turned away and came back to the village, and found Anya preparing for the equinox.

"Tell me everything," Anya said at once, stopping what she was doing. And Lexa did. She told Anya about the herd, every detail from the brother deer who would occasionally bicker to the older doe with the poor leg. "Clearly that is your target," Anya commented when Lexa finished.

"Yes," Lexa replied. "She is."

"You will take your spear tomorrow and nothing else. I expect you to return with her by the end of the day," Anya said. "Be fast. The equinox approaches the day after tomorrow."

Lexa nodded, and that night she slept with the other sekons for the first time in a week. They all clamored to know about her task, but Lexa kept her mouth shut, only telling Costia late that night when everyone else had fallen asleep.

"Will you be able to do it?" Costia asked, putting her arm around Lexa's shoulder. Lexa leaned her head onto Costia's shoulder.

"I don't know," Lexa sighed. "I feel like I've known them my whole life, even though it's only been a week and a half."

"Whatever happens tomorrow, I know you'll be fine," Costia said, gently touching her nose to Lexa's cheek. Lexa's heart soared, and she wrapped her arms around her friend, hugging her tightly.

The next morning they woke early, Costia to say goodbye. Lexa left, and took the weapon she had spent the past month crafting. She knew exactly where to go, as though the earth was urging her on the branches didn't crack and the trees were easy to get through. She approached where the herd was just after the sun had reached it's zenith. The herd was lazy. They were walking slowly through the forest, their ears down, their attention low. Lexa slowed to less than a creep. As tregedakru do, she slithered up the trees silently, until she had gathered herself on a low branch just outside the deer. They would walk past soon. Lexa waited.

The herd followed the young doe, and the older doe trailed behind the others, walking more slowly. Her leg was paining her today and Lexa would ease that pain.

As though time slowed to a standstill, the minute the deer walked under Lexa's tree felt like an eternity, the seconds dripping by like molasses. And then the old doe was under Lexa's tree. Now was the moment.

Lexa dropped, the spear pointed directly at the deer's heart, her legs bent to absorb the shock. Time resumed again as she landed on the deer's back. The spear entered the doe like butter, but it missed her heart and Lexa's heart jumped to her neck as she screamed to see her friend in pain. The rest of the herd bounded away as the world shrank to Lexa and the doe, her large brown eyes gazing up at Lexa as though she was human herself, wondering what on earth she had done to deserve this fate. Lexa withdrew the spear, which had, unlike her heart, survived the fall.

Lexa opened her mouth, "Yu gonplei ste odon," she whispered to the doe, and gently slid the obsidian blade into the deer's heart. She watched the life leave the doe's eyes, feeling dead inside. She buried her face in the doe's neck, sobbing. Eventually she knew that she had to carry the doe's body back to the village. She slung the spear across her shoulders and the deer carcass across her other shoulder in a fireman carry. The body was heavy, but Lexa knew she must bear the burden.

The hours trickled by as she hiked through the forest carrying her friend, and finally, just as the sun was beginning to set, sending long shadows through the forest, she reached the village and set down the doe. Anya emerged.

"Why," Lexa said. Her voice was tired, her body exhausted. She didn't have the energy to fight back. "Why would you make me do that."

Anya looked at her sekon for what felt like an eternity. "Because," said the geda. "Every time you take something from the earth, this is what you should feel. Torn apart. You take lives to live. As such is the way. But never, never take anything for gratitude. The moment you do is the moment you die."

Together sekon and first gathered the carcass into the village and took it apart, skinning the doe and leaving the hide out to tan, gathering the bones to make tools, and setting the meat out on the drying racks to harden into jerky for the long winter. The brain was set aside for tanning the hide. The sinew was gathered for bowstrings, the bladder and stomach were washed out for water containers. The organs that could be eaten were stored, and the few leftover guts were set out to compost. By the time sekon and first were finished the sun had long since set, and the two gathered by the fire to eat a long deserved dinner of soup and fish.

"Tomorrow is the equinox," Anya told Lexa. "The commander will want to know about the reapers. Are you ready to tell him?"

"Yes," Lexa nodded after a pause. "It is my duty. I will tell him and the other heda and all the geda."

Anya nodded. "I am proud of you," she said. Lexa looked up. Anya very rarely said any praise. Their eyes met, brown on hazel. Lexa blinked, and the moment passed. Sekon and first sat in silence, enjoying the other's company. Tomorrow would be a big day. They would do it together.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: After doing some more research on Trigedasleng I have discovered that the clans are actually called other names than what I have named them in the story, namely, Tregedakru is actually a simpler Trikru, and the Ice Clan, which I have named Isagedakru, is actually called Asakru. However, I will still refer to the clans by the names that I have been using, just as it will be easier for myself. Perhaps one day I can go back and edit everything, but know that my names are incorrect, if you are following the cannon things I've been using (ie, Tregedasleng, most of which can be translated using this site I've been using: wiki/Trigedasleng_(language) (I have had to fill in the gaps with my own imagination). Sorry for the long-ass AN. While I'm at it, school is going to be starting up for me in the next week, so there might be a slight drop in updates. I'm doing my best to write several chapters in advance, but timewise I might get crunched later in the semester, so if there is a gap in updates, this is it. But worry not, they will pick up again at the end of december, if they drop at all. Lastly, thank you so much for keeping up! This was literally me being like 'heh, I work in a wilderness survival outdoor educaiton program and adore Lexa, lemme write this fanfictiction with my 'woods knowledge' and we'll see where it grows' and now it's close to approaching 30,000 words, and people actually read it! So thank you so, so much. And stay tuned. There's good stuff on the way :)

The morning awoke bright and early and the village was still mostly quiet, but in the sekon's tent, a ruckus was beginning to stir. Of the sekons, Lexa, Ophus and Yunto had all been chosen to accompany the geda attending the meeting that night. Lexa was busy packing her satchel for the next night. They were to leave by the time the sun had risen over the horizon. Lexa's hands shook as she packed away her meager amount of clothes and personal items. Costia sat quietly watching her. Lexa didn't want to look at Costia - she knew that she would miss her friend too much.

"You'll be back though," Costia said quietly. Some of the sekons were still asleep, though how Lexa knew not; Ophus and Yunto had gotten into a scuffle over Ophus stealing Yunto's shoes because he could not find his own.

"Tomorrow night I'll be back," Lexa said with a smile. "It's only a day and a half. We leave, we go to the meeting, we come home. That's all. The only reason they want me in the first place is because I was one of the witnesses to the reapers..." Lexa trailed off as Costia looked down. "I'm sorry," Lexa said, after taking her hand off her mouth.

"It's alright," Costia said. "I mean, it is the reason they want you. And that Anya is one of the best geda in the village. And that you're the best sekon in our class."

Lexa looked up, the blood rushing to her cheeks. "It's true!" Costia insisted. "You haven't started any weapons besides archery and spear, but you've started cavalry, and I've seen you during scouting - you can't miss a tree throwing knives and your aim with arrows is impeccable."

"Stop," Lexa muttered, but her heart was fluttering, the blood rushing to her cheeks. It was a feeling she hadn't really felt before - a kind of stirring in her lower abdomen, a chill down her spine, blood in her cheeks.

"You're redder than a tomato," Costia said, poking Lexa's stomach. Lexa laughed, collapsing into Costia's lap.

"I'll miss you," Lexa looked up. Costia's dark brown hair hung down, unbraided from her shoulders, tickling Lexa's nose. Her blue eyes met Lexa's hazel, her thin fingers twirling Lexa's curly mess, her other hand on Lexa's wrist. The two girls sat up quickly, the moment soured for a second, and then dissolving back into friendship.

"I'll miss you too," Lexa replied, and hugged her friend tightly. They were both small girls, but together they could conquer the world. Over on the other side of the tent, Ophus found his shoes and said goodbye to Reed while Yunto whispered a goodbye to the still sleeping Sanse and Alana. Lexa threw her pack over her shoulder and grabbed her bow and quiver. The spear she left by her things; she didn't trust her skill with it yet. The three sekons headed out just as the sky began to melt from blue to grey, the sun getting closer and closer to the horizon.

They made their way to the center of the village where Tohru, Anya, Ian, Conner and Juram were gathered. Tohru had decided to take three geda with him, and one healer, leaving Corin (the older and more experienced healer) with the village. The five of them had already packed up all of their things.

"Good," Tohru said, turning on his heel in a sharp click and walking towards the stable. The group of eight followed. Of the sekons, only Lexa had a horse, and though Juram was a senior member of the village, she had never found a horse to claim to ride, so of the geda she was also horseless. Connor and Ian had extra large saddles, and it was decided that because Ophus and Yunto had no experience riding, they would ride with their firsts. Despite Juram's lack of horse, she still knew how to ride, and so received an extra. After saddling up, the group headed out at a pace slightly faster than a walk. Once they were a distance from the village in the woods, Tohru in front kicked up the pace, moving to a canter through the woods. Lexa, riding behind Connor and in front of Anya near the back of the line, looked around. She knew immediately they were heading south. From Anya's lessons on the other villages, she knew they were headed towards the first village, and that village was on the coast near a sea, and it was a full day's heavy ride away.

The forest was deep, dark and chilly that morning. The weather was becoming chilly for everyone. Today was the equinox; summer was truly gone. The group rode in silence for the duration of the day, not pausing for anything but to let the horses rest for a few moments. Jerky was passed down the line when the sun made its way directly above them. The air remained chilly, though the rays of sun that made their way through the trees were warm and dry.

As Lexa watched, she noticed that the forest began to change during the afternoon. The trees began to thin out, becoming more widely spaced. The pines disappeared, replaced mostly with young deciduous trees. The bird calls, instead of being familiar the familiar tweets and whistles were replaced by different calls: high caws, long squeaks and soft twitters. The ground lost its springiness of the deep forest, instead becoming sandy.

Finally, as the sun was beginning to dip into the horizon and the shadows becoming long and stretched out, the forest opened up and Lexa stopped short. The largest expanse of water she had ever seen in her entire life stretched out before her. The ground was soft and giving, a whitish-yellow color. She turned to Anya, the question in her eyes. Anya gave a gentle nod of permission, and Lexa practically vaulted off Naya, joining Yunto and Ophus as they sprinted towards the water.

They stopped short as the ground turned harder and wetter. The water was moving - it would slosh onto the shore, reaching the edge of the wet ground, and then receding just as the next bit of water would slosh up. The three sekons were held in mesmer for several seconds, just watching the water, and then it was broken. Ophus reached his foot into the water and kicked up some of the water and Yunto, and the three of them promptly broke into a water fight, throwing water at each other.

As Ophus reached out to throw some water into Lexa's face, her mouth open in glee, a little bit splashed onto her tongue, and she promptly gagged. "It's salty!" she said in surprise. The others stopped as Lexa dipped her fingers into the waves, touching it to her tongue again, this time expecting it. The water was indeed salty; impossible to drink.

"It's the ocean," Anya said, and the three sekons jumped. "You're seeing the ocean for the first time.

"Why is it salty?" Lexa asked her mentor.

"No one knows," Anya said. "All we know is that we can't drink it, we can only swim near the shore, otherwise it becomes too strong and too deep, and we can fish all kinds of bounty from the sea."

"Why does it move?" Yunto asked, the energy from the water having faded and the three sekons once more entranced by the water.

"Long ago, people discovered it was the moon that made the water move," Anya replied, looking into the sky. "But we have forgotten how it works. But they are called waves. The water moves in waves. And the shore is covered by a soil called sand. It's tiny grains of rocks. You know what you can do with sand?"

The three sekons shook their head. "Sand can be heated, and once it becomes very, very hot it melts and becomes glass." The three sekons; mouths fell open.

"No way," Ophus whispered softly.

"Isn't it amazing what people can discover?" Anya said with a smile. "Now come. Your horses need caring, and we have a meeting to attend. Be prepared; this village is much, much larger than ours. And you'll be seeing sekons from every village in the Tregedakru tribe. There'll be kids older than you, as you're the youngest class. Learn from them; they have much to teach."

The three sekons nodded. Lexa looked back to the ocean. "Don't worry, Goufa," Anya said. "We will come back to the ocean again." Together the four of them walked back to the group of geda, who were busy in a fast and low discussion. Upon their arrival, the heda nodded to Anya and the group resumed their trek to the village, this time at a less hurried pace.

They walked their horses over a large mound of the sand (Anya said it was called a dune), and paused at the top of the dune. Stretched across the edge of the forest was a village, if it could be called that. It stretched as far as the eye could see, the buildings either very low to the ground, or up on large stilts, pitching them taller than Lexa had ever seen. The people of the village were in a bustle getting ready for the equinox meeting. Large fish were carried to and fro by several strong men each, even creatures that Lexa had never seen in her life, creatures with many legs, creatures with huge fins and tails, grey, pitted skin. Vegetables too were carried around; harvest season was upon them.

The sekons followed the geda silently, intimidated by the activity around them. Older sekons ran around, taller, stronger and faster. The people of this village had browned skin, much browner than their paler, whiter deep forest skin.

The geda led them to the stables, twice the size, no, three times the size of theirs at home. There they unsaddled the horses and brushed them down, turning them out in a large, cleared pasture behind the stables, filled with all sorts of horses. White, black, grey, blue, they all wandered in the massive pasture, munching on grass. With this, the group of villagers Lexa was familiar with met up with a geda of the village. An exchange of tregedasleng between him and the heda, and the eight of them were shown to a place to sleep that night. It was a shack of sorts, the slacks of the building cracked to let light in, and the floor covered in dirt to prevent sand from getting in all of your belongings. As it was, Lexa had already found sand in places she thought it couldn't get in. They set their things down, and the geda gathered together, leaving Juram to explain the evening to the sekons.

"Here is how tonight is going to work," the healer said, sitting with her feet folded into her legs on the dirt floor. "All of the geda at the meeting meet in an hour. This village is serving a large dinner, and then the meeting commences. The meeting lasts until it needs to, and then is concluded with the harvest festival, which we will not be staying for the duration of, only just the beginning. We need to be getting back to the village as soon as possible, and there is every chance the meeting could last a very long time."

The three sekons nodded. "Until that time," Juram said with a smile, "Anya, Connor and myself have given the three of you permission to explore the village. Learn something. The other sekons, being older than you, will have a lot to teach you. And of course, the ocean. There is every likelihood you may never see it again, and of course, you may return. So appreciate it, be grateful that you were able to come to this meeting. It's an experience you're lucky to have."

The three sekons stood up and raced out of the building. "Where do you think the other sekons are?" Lexa asked the other two. Ophus shrugged, Yunto responded, "Hopefully by the ocean. Let's go see it!"

They raced to the edge of the village to the shore, where the waves were busy splashing and sloshing onto the shore. With shouts the sekons tore of their clothing and sprinted into the water, despire the air being quite chilly. In only their underclothes the water was a shock, leaving the three of them breathless, but their bodies (more or less) adjusting to the freezing water after a minute or too. Lexa laughed as Ophus tried to slosh in deeper, but a wave knocked his feet out in front of him. As Ophus stood up soaking wet, another wave came, this time coming back to Lexa and knocking her to the ground.

"Let's go deeper!" Yunto yelled to the two of them. All three were raised by the rivers, so all three were strong swimmers from the pooling currents and rocks, but nothing was to prepare them for the strength of the ocean. At one point, Lexa was caught up in a wave, battering her and rolling her over and over until she thought she would drown, until she stood up on the shore, gasping. She looked up, and suddenly realized they were being watched. A small crowd of kids was watching them.

Ophus and Yunto came to a stop. The other kids stretched from slightly older to almost geda. One of the oldest girls reached down, offering a hand to Lexa. "Need a hand up?" she said with a smile. Lexa was paralyzed by her deep grey eyes. She shook herself out.

"Thanks," she said, grabbing the other sekon's hand.

"Come on," said the girl. "These sekons have the right idea guys!" And following Lexa, Ophus and Yunto's lead, she shook out of her clothing and jumped into the ocean. The other sekons followed, until the shore was littered with sekon clothing and the ocean was filled with sekons splashing in the water.

One of the older guys picked up Lexa like she was a sack of rocks, and threw her with all his might into the water. Lexa screamed gleefully as she hit the water, stretching her body out into a dive and coming up with a laugh. Ophus and Yunto's faces practically exploded with excitement, and the other sekons quickly grabbed onto them and threw them into the ocean. Only the youngest sekons could be thrown into the ocean, that is until two of the older male sekons teamed up to throw the sekon who had first joined them flipping through the air into the water. She returned the favor with a kick to their legs, knocking them into the water, though she forgave them with a quick smile and laugh.

Finally after several minutes of splashing and laughing, the sekons came up to the shore, putting on their clothes and drying off in the cold air.

"So," said one of the older sekons. "Let's get this straight. Who are the new ones to join our ranks of the tregedakru sekons?"

"I'm Lexa," Lexa replied, "And this is Ophus and Reed. We're under Tohru."

"Ah," he said with a smile. "If ever there was a heda, it was Tohru."

"So," Lexa said. "Who all are you guys?"

There were perhaps twenty sekons in total gathered, stretching from nearly geda to only a year above Lexa's class.

"I'm Rena," said the geda who had helped up Lexa. "Ten and nine. All of these other losers, they hope to be as old as me someday." Lexa could tell Rena was almost a geda. The way she held herself, it was practically written on her body. Her long, black hair was tied back in a loose knot at her neck, and her skin was a darker brown.

"Shof op, Rena," said one of the guys with a shove at her. "I'm Varse. And this guy, who doesn't say a word, this is Lincoln."

Lincoln nodded. His skin was much, much darker than any of the other sekons and his hair was shaved off. "Ten and eight," he replied. "Our heda is Indra."

"Lincoln's studying to be a healer," Varse said. "And he's one of the best we have."

"Remember, goufa," Rena said. "We're not the only ones of our class. Our classes are fairly sizeable. The only reason we're here is because our firsts were chosen to attend the meeting."

"I'm Niko," said another male sekon, marked by paler skin. "And this one over here is Rory. And lastly is Dichen." Niko pointed at another tall male, and a female sekon. All three were marked with paler skin, signalling they were from deep in the forest.

"Our heda is Salse," said Dichen. "And we're the furthest village. Our trek is three days. We just got here a few hours ago."

"We're ten and seven," added Rory, running his hands through long, dark hair. "And we're missing the ten and sixes; they live in this village near the sea, so they're busy preparing tonight. We'll see them at dinner. And there's seventeen of them, in case you were wondering."

Lexa nodded. "And over here," said another girl. Now the sekons were starting to get younger. While Rena and Lincoln and Varse looked like they were geda, these younger sekons Lexa could tell were still in training. "I'm Aly. And this is Willow and Kira."

All of the ten and fives were girls. They once again had the paler hair. The three of them had varying lengths of dark brown hair. Aly had hers cut to her ears, while Willow's was down to her waist.

And now the sekons were approaching the ages of Lexa. Their bodies still looked older, but they weren't quite as tall, weren't quite as strong, weren't as adult-looking.

"I'm Brooke," said one of the younger girls. "And this is Yan. We're ten and four." Yan had black hair and pale skin, Brooke was the first sekon to have hair other than brown. Her hair was some sort of light, golden color. Lexa was fascinated.

"We're second furthest," Yan added. "Our village is two and a half days away. Our heda is Garth."

"And over here," waved some of the younger sekons. "This is Dan, and I'm Mat. We're ten and three. Our heda is Bran." These two were shorter than the others, their brown hair was trimmed short.

"Ten and two," said another girl. "Oona, (here she pointed to herself), Darek (pointing at a boy next to her), Quinn (pointing at a second girl with short brown hair) and Jith (a second guy with hair down to his shoulders)."

"Our heda is Kyla," added Quinn.

And last but not least left two more sekons just a little bit older than Lexa herself, a girl and a boy. "I'm Jordan," said the boy.

"And I'm Eve," said the girl. She also had hair other than brown; hers was a curly red mess on her head. Her voice, soft and silky, added, "Our heda is Keeth, and we're ten and one.."

"And I'm Lexa," she replied. "We're the ten class, although I think all of us have turned ten and one at this point..."

"Yunto hasn't," Ophus said with a poke at Yunto, causing him to bark out a laugh. "He turns next month. And then Alana is still ten, and so's Gabe. But Alana's the last, and she's not until winter."

"So then," Varse said. "Now that we're all acquainted with each other, I think it's high time that we should be heading in. Dinner is about to start, and the highlight of our evening, the equinox meeting!" He held up is hands and waved them, and Rena poked at his side.

"Oh, shof op, goufa," she said. And just like that, a messenger appeared at the edge of the village, another sekon.

"It's time," she said, and motioned for the other sekons to come. The group stood up together, and suddenly Lexa felt a lot more welcome than before.


	12. Chapter 12

Lexa, Ophus and Yunto rejoined their firsts among the other sekons scattering into their own village groups. Lexa saw brief flashes of Lincoln's first and heda, two dark-skinned geda, one male, one female, both with shorn heads and a collection of patterned tattoos. The heda flashed her a look, and Lexa met those dark, serious eyes with a look of her own. The two silently regarded each other, and then she gave the slightest of nods to Lexa. She fought to keep her face straight.

Her attention was directed away as Anya punched her shoulder to tell her to pay attention as the village groups headed into a large, low, wide-slatted building. It smelled like the ocean. A huge table stretched inside, and the finest metal diningware lined the strong wooden table. There were propbably close to a hundred seats in the room.

At the very head of the table, an older man stepped forward. Commander Qin. His tanned skin, dark brown hair and black tattoos were quite intimidating. He stood at the front of the table.

"Gad oso op nodotaim, lukots, splika, geda. Teina, geda kom mils en mils cel oso op. Kom, geda. Oso suda gib machop op, choj oso op!"

Lexa followed the tregedasleng in her head as the Commander told the geda to give thanks and to eat. The geda filed in, in order of eldest sekon to lowest, excluding the Commander's village, who sat at the head of the table. Then came Rena's village, and Vause and Lincoln's, and so on. Lexa's village was near the end of the table, followed by the two villages who did not have sekons that year. The heda were marked by an extra cup on their plate, Lexa did not know why, although she assumed it would be answered by the end of the dinner.

The geda and sekons sat down, and the cups were turned over. Down the line was passed a chunk of bread and several large jugs of water. Lexa watched as the Commander slipped into a language more ancient than trigedasleng or english itself, as he said a blessing of thanks. The sekons were the only ones new to this, as everyone else seemed to follow with a bite of bread and a sip of water. Lexa hastened to follow.

And then all twelve heda stood, and raised their glasses, now filled with a red liquid. Together, they all spoke, "Tregedakru," and drank from their glasses. All twelve heda were completely different. There was Qin in the front, and of course Lexa's own heda, Tohru, one of the more elder heda. And she recognized Lincoln and Vause's, Indra. And there were other heda. Young women to old men, dark skinned to almost white. There was a younger woman with flaming red hair, and a large, tall man with blonde hair that reached down to his lower back. There was an old man, almost stooped with age, even older than Tohru, with a grey beard that was so long he had to tuck it into his belt. And there was a woman there who was as tall as if Lexa stood on Anya's shoulder. Lexa marvelled at the variety just within the room.

And then everyone was sitting down, and like clockwork, the sekons of the village came out, all dressed in the same black-dyed cotton shirts and leggings, their hair knotted back. They were older, Lexa noticed, but didn't quite resemble geda, not quite yet. And the food started to come out.

The meal was a long process, and for the sekons who had been used to venison jerky and an apple on the harder days, it was a feast beyond imagination. Dish upon dish was served, some of which Lexa recognized, most of which she had no idea what it was, and she, Ophus and Yunto would guess as to where the creature came from. After the first dish, which was a strange, lumpy-white sort of meat encased in a bone-like struncture, smothered in butter and spices, wherein the three sekons joked increasingly inappropriate things, Ian leaned forward and started telling them what they were eating. "Clam," he said, after Yunto made a horrific joke about it being the testical of ancient humans, dug up and fossilized after hundreds of years. "You're eating clams."

The three sekons looked up, and while they didn't really know what a clam was, at least they knew what the dish was called. Ian saw their confusion and smiled again. "It comes from the sea," he added. And a sort of comprehension dawned on them, and they pried it open and tasted the meat. It was actually quite flavorful.

And the dishes only grew more exotic from there. With help from Ian, who insisted that the only time the geda had ever had feasts this extravagant were at the equinoxes, and the solstices (which were celebrated in one's own village), the sekons learned what they were eating: sardines, potatoes satueed with leeks, a soup of birds' egg and spice, squash and rabbit stew, stuffed quail, roast venison with apples and cinnamon, the list grew and grew. Lexa lost track around dish fifteen. And each dish was just a bite, just a taste of the food, each one brought out on another clean metal plate by the sekons. The feast finally ended with an entire roast deer, and each geda got a cut of the meat, with fresh bread, onions, leeks and chives.

Full and satisfied, the heda ended the meal again with another blessing in a language that Lexa didn't understand, but she copied the others when they lifted their glasses. And then the meal was ended, and the plates cleared away. Lexa moved push her chair back to stand, but no one else moved, so she sat back in her chair.

"Pro equinox," said the Commander. The rest of the geda nodded, and murmered "pro equinox" back. "Welcome to the equinox meeting of the twelve tribes of the Tregedakru."

One of the heda stood, the man with long blonde hair. His skin, pale, signalled that he was from deep in the woods. "Heda Garth," he said in a surprisingly quiet voice. "The First Village. And I have brought with me Kendra, Charles, Rubin and Sen, and sekons, Brooke and Yan." He sat after this introduction.

"Heda Bran," stood an older man with buzzed hair and pale skin. He had a nasty scar across the bottom of his jaw. "And I have brought with me Judo, Kan, Rachel and Shaw, and sekons Mat and Dan."

So the hedas went. Lexa's village, the Fourth came and went fairly quickly, and it ended with the Twelfth village, who had the sekons who were fifteen. Villages five and six did not have any sekons, but both villages brought recent geda, and called them out for congratulations, upon which the congregation clapped for the names said. Once all of the villages had gone through the indroductory motions, the Commander folded his hands neatly on the table and began to speak. Lexa's attention began to waver as the conversation made its way through everything they had to talk about - the increasing tension with the Isagedakru, the Sea Clan moving into new teritory far to the south, trade issues with the Northern Clan, and so on. It was only when silence hit did Lexa's attention snap to, and she suddenly realized everyone was looking at their tribe.

"The Reapers," whispered Yunto to Lexa, who also elbowed Ophus. Yunto was always one to pay attention, even if his first was reading the stock list of one of the food storage units.

"Our village has experienced something that we have never seen before," began Tohru. "And our people have lived through many unique dangers and pains. Several weeks ago, during a raid on an outlying Ice Clan village, my geda had gained the upper hand, and the Isageda had just begun to retreat when a different enemy entered the battle. I believe one of my sekons had the best experience with the event, which is one of the reasons she is here today." Tohru looked straight at Lexa, and in a low voice said, "Lexa, if you could stand and relate to the Clan gathered before you the events of Milo's passing."

Lexa gulped and nodded, rising. She had never spoken in front of this many strangers before. It was one thing in her village when she knew everyone, it was quite another when she had to speak in front of memebers of the entire clan. She cleared her throat softly, and in her mind suddenly burst the memory of sitting on the cliff holding a weeping Costia. She set her jaw. She could do this. She would do this. For Costia.

"The battle had almost ended," Lexa began, and using her best speaking voice, nice, slow and deep, she told the geda of watching Milo being pulled under by the reapers and being dragged away. She told them that the reapers looked like men, but their heads were bigger and thicker, and their arms stronger, their legs faster. Her voice almost broke, but she recounted watching them tear Milo apart and consume his flesh before Anya pulled her away.

"The last thing I saw was a crowd of them around where Milo went down," Lexa finished. "After that our people retreated, and my memory blurs." She sat down. The room was silent.

"Have the reapers made any appearence since this battle?" asked the Commander.

"None," Tohru replied. "My scouts have reported nothing back. We know nothing of where they live, where they come from, or what their goal is. We've never seen them before, and we have nothing to predict what they'll do next."

"Our village had a similar experience," Heda Indra replied. Unsurprising, Lexa thought. Indra's village wasn't too far from their own. The geda listened as Indra called forth one of her geda, who explained a similar situation, only instead of attacking after a battle, the reapers had taken down a scouting party of four, the forth managing to make it back to speak of the event, who spoke now. Lexa watched his face, haunted with the memory of watching his friends being destroyed.

"Clearly the reapers are a new, and dangerous threat," the Commander began. "And especially with the tension we already have with the Isagedakru, I don't like the look of where this is going. But the only choice we have at the moment is to learn everything we can about these...(here he paused, searching)...people, and if any sort of alliance can be made with them. I suggest that your scouting parties be sent specifically on missions to search for them, especially in the Forth, Eighth and Tenth villages, which are located in and around that area. Any sightings of these creatures will be reported to myself, and I will alert the twelve villages. Times like these are when internal tensions need to be forgotten, and the Clan must work together as a whole. I don't like the sound of these people, and I don't like the fact that we know next to nothing about them. Hopefully by next spring, that will have changed drastically."

The heda nodded in agreement, disappointed that they couldn't do more. The conversation moved on from there and Lexa fell back into a stupor, catching perhaps every other word, and as the evening went on, every fifth word. Eventually, she stoped listening entirely, instead focusing her attention on one knot on the table shaped like a two-headed deer bounding through the woods. She marvelled at how that exact shape could be created, contemplating the wood, when Anya's hand on her shoulder jerked her out of her stupor. Lexa looked up, suddenly exhausted. Anya smiled. "Goufa," she said. "The meeting is over. It's the middle of the night. Let's get some sleep."

Lexa nodded sleepily and in a haze got up and followed her first. They wove their way through the village and back to their sleeping shelter, where Lexa pulled off her shoes and her pants and collapsed on her mat, falling asleep between the time she started falling, and the time her head hit her pillow.


	13. Chapter 13

Lexa awoke with the sun as she had for her entire life, slightly bleary from all the food she had eaten last night but she shook off her sleep and threw together her pack. Over on the other side of the shelter the geda were already getting themselves together. Lexa tossed her shoe over at Ophus, who rolled over and grumbled, but Lexa knew he would get up. She jumped out of bed and went outside. A swim in the ocean would wake her up best, plus she didn't know when the next time she would get to would be. She dashed out onto the sand, her bare feet digging into the soft ground as she stripped off her shirt and jumped into the freezing waves. The water was cold enough to take her breath away, but it did well in waking her up perfectly.

"You had the same thought as us!" called a voice over the waves, and Lexa watched as Lincoln and Rena appeared in the ocean. Vause was further back.

"Good morning," Lexa said. "You guys leaving today?"

"Yeah," Rena said. "We have something of a ride ahead of us, not as bad as some of the other villages, but ours is over a mountain, so that's gonna be interesting.

"Yeah," Lexa said. "We're on the south side of a mountain, so luckily enough we can just ride east and avoid going over.

"The ride for us is flat, but long," Lincoln said.

"What are you going to do," Lexa replied, wishing she could say something smarter.

"Shechan is getting antsy anyway," Rena said with a smile. Lexa froze in the water, and it wasn't due to the cold.

"Shechan?" she asked. "Tall, darker skinned, long black hair?"

"Yeah," Rena said, looking at Lexa.

"He was my heda. Before I was a sekon," Lexa said. She hadn't even realized her home village would've been at the meeting, the hedas who had introduced themselves at the meeting a blur.

"You know," Rena said. "It's been so long since I thought of where I grew up. I mean, I consider my geda my parent now. But I suppose they're still out there somewhere. I hope they're doing well."

"It's an interesting way we do things," Lincoln said, unblinking.

"On that note," Lexa said. "If you do know a Han and a Whitney, tell them I'm doing well."

"I'll do that," Rena said with a smile. "They're both wonderful geda."

Lexa smiled and waved goodbye as she headed back in, throwing her clothes on and running to the building. Anya gave her a look, telling Lexa she had overstayed in the ocean. Lexa put her things together silently, knowing there would be punishments later. But she didn't want to think of that now. Lexa threw her shoes on and twisted her wet hair so it wouldn't drip. She joined the group as they headed to the stables. Tohru wanted to head out early and make good time. If all went well, they'd be back just before sundown.

The air was chilling Lexa's head as she saddled Naya. Perhaps she had caught one of the last opportunities to go swimming. Much sooner, and the water would be far too cold. Another moon or two and it would freeze.

The group headed out, headed straight west, the rising sun behind them, casting a long shadow in the woods. Lexa sat behind Anya. She thought about what Rena had told her, news that her parents were still alive, still fighting, still doing well. She hadn't given them any thought since arriving at her village. It just wasn't how the Tregedakru did it. The system had worked for so long. Family is who you're with, not the blood you are. That was what they were taught. Plus, parents in the tregedakru didn't pay that much attention to them anyway. They were busy training and preparing to be sekons, learning the basic skills of the woods, knives and hand to hand combat. Nothing serious, but enough to defend yourself in an emergency. Fighting was for sekons. There wasn't even a proper name for the youngsters. Goufa, maybe.

The sun crept higher in the sky as Lexa fell into doze watching Anya's horse plod forward. Tohru broke up the cantering with periods of walking so the horses could have a break. They stopped once to give the horses water by a river, but other than that, much like the trip there it was the same trees, over and over again, the same bird sounds through the trees, the same chilly air despite the sun being up. The summer was truly over.

As the sun began to creep in front of them, the trees began to look more familiar, the air started to smell like home. As Lexa began to lean forward, Naya began to prick her ears up. "Yeah girl?" Lexa murmured to her horse. "You excited to be home again? Me to."

Naya nickered softly. Her ears flipped back towards Lexa. She began to slow. "Something the matter, girl?" Lexa said. Her brows pulled into a frown. Naya stopped, dancing sideways. She was the last in line, and nobody noticed her as they pulled slowly ahead. Naya started making a scared noise, a sort of bawling. "What's going on?" she said, increasingly beginning to panic.

Suddenly, Naya bolted. Lexa had just enough experience to hold on, otherwise she'd have been thrown as Naya galloped through the woods. Adrenaline had her holding onto her horse has tightly as possible, her knees gripped ironclad on the saddle as she let Naya run the jitters out of her. Lexa wasn't experienced enough to be able to reign her horse in.

Naya stopped in the middle of the woods, no path in sight. Lexa's heart was pounding in her chest. She looked around, straining her ears as far as she could, but the trees were like a blanket, keeping the sound in. The forest was silent, no bird calls, no wind rustling in the trees. That wasn't a good sign.

Naya was breathing hard. Lexa reached forward and calmed her horse down as she caught her bearings. She looked around, and instantly knew where she was, almost like her inner compass was tugging her back to the village. She turned Naya around, meaning to head back to the village. She still had a ride in front of her. She wedged her heels into Naya's side. Naya refused to budge.

"Naya!" Lexa said angrily, for a moment losing the calm atmosphere she had regained as the heat of frustration flared up. The horse stood there, refusing to move. Lexa nudged her, harder this time.

Suddenly a scream echoed through the forest, followed by rough yells. Lexa froze. She knew the voice of her healer. Something was happening. Naya glanced back. "You're a battle horse!" Lexa growled in frustration, digging her heels into her horse's back. "Move!"

And like she said the magic words, Naya ran, even faster than she had run before. Like oil work, Lexa had her bow off her back, strung, and an arrow knocked within a few seconds. Her legs took over as she let go of the reigns to hold her weapons. The leaves of the trees whipped by her head as she bent low over her horse's neck, travelling faster than one of the arrows she carried back to the group.

Shapes caught her eyes, running through the woods. Grunts and yells in front of her signalled the beginning of a battle. Lexa tapped her horse, reached up and entered the trees. She would be able to do her job better, and Naya had been trained to loop around the battle when a geda left the saddle into the trees.

Lexa climbed through the trees monkey like, her bow tucked safely over one shoulder. Reapers. At least thirty of them, and the grounders were being decimated. They were just far enough away from the village that help couldn't be reached. Lexa knew what to do. Taking it in, she had time to fire a few arrows in, landing in a few of the Reaper's necks, but too few to make a difference. And her thoughts were gone, she was merely part of the machine at this point. She didn't stop to watch, didn't see where Anya or Ophus or Yunto were. No time. She whistled sharply, and Naya appeared below her as she dropped into her horse's saddle.

A Reaper appeared next to her, it's eyes dull and black, it's teeth stained red, it's head deformed. Their eyes met, and Lexa suddenly realized this creature had once been human. Once. She shot an arrow straight into the Reaper's eye, and he went down with a rough yell. She tapped her heels to Naya's sides and her horse rocketed out of the battle scene. The screams faded into the trees as Naya and Lexa ran, dodging trees, Lexa bent low over Naya's neck. "Faster, Naya," Lexa whispered, and as though some force took her horse, her horse's legs started to move even faster than before. They tore through the forest, Lexa guiding Naya straight to the village.

The trees opened up into the village as Naya tore into the center of the village. Corin looked up, put in charge when Juram and Tohru and Anya had all left. She looked up, startled at seeing only Lexa.

"Reapers," Lexa said, breathless. She realized that she was covered in sweat and blood. "Reapers are attacking the party to the northwest of the village.

Corin gathered her thoughts for perhaps half a second, and reached down on her belt to a beautifully carved horn, bringing it to her lips and blowing on it with all her might. A deep sound echoed through the village, a sound only heard in emergencies. Geda appeared from nowhere, shoving swords, bows, spears and knives into various belts. It took perhaps half a minute for the cavalry to mount up.

"Lead us," Corin said, already on her magnificent white horse.

"Naya, go," Lexa whispered, and turned her horse around to ride out. The warriors streamed out behind her, riding fast and hard. From the crowd emerged the face Lexa wanted to see most, tossing her her spear from behind her own first. Lexa's eyes met Costa with a look only meant for her best friend. She turned back to the woods, her hand gripped on her spear, ready to fight.

It took a few minutes, but the sounds of battle came through the trees, slightly faded but still there. The Geda streamed into battle with cries and screams. More of the tregedakru appeared in the trees, arrows whizzing by to the Reapers, falling.

Lexa turned, stabbed, shot and yelled, thoughts fading into the battle. There was nothing that could distract her in that moment. She had learned her lesson.

In a few minutes, it was over. The grounders pulled their horses in, surveying the scene. The reaper's bodies littered the clearing. Lexa looked, her heart pounding, her body so pumped up she couldn't focus.

And then she saw them. The group she had abandoned to get help. Anya stood up, looking straight at Lexa. She leapt off her horse at the same time Lexa did, and the two of them sprinted across the clearing. Anya straight lifted Lexa up from the ground, embracing her. It didn't matter the two of them were covered in blood, sweaty. Lexa's mask broke, and she began to sob into her first's shoulder. Anya's hand went to the back of her sekon's head, wrapping her and calming her. "It's ok, it's ok, it's ok," Anya whispered in a mantra.

After what could have been a few seconds or an hour, Lexa's feet touched the ground again. The energy was gone from Anya's eyes. Lexa took in her first, at the gashes made in her arms, the blood stains on her shirt and her pants. Some of them had been haphazardly tied up.

And then her eyes found the others, and she froze in horror. Ian, slumped against a tree, his eyes staring into nothing. Ophus, his legs twisted in a horrible angle, his eyes shut tightly. Lexa saw his chest rise and breathed again. Yunto, covered in blood but alive. Juram, face-down on the ground. And worst of all. Tohru, neck twisted, arm ripped off his body.

"They got to him first," Anya whispered. The tregedakru fell silent as they realized the damage done to the party.

Corin broke apart from the other geda, walking forward, coming to a rest before Tohru. "Yu gonplei ste odon," she whispered hoarsely. The rest of the geda echoed, yu gonplei ste odon. She went to each of the fallen grounders, whispering it into each of their ears. She whistled through her teeth, and her horse came forward. She draped Ophus on the saddle. He was passed out from the pain, and whisked him away through the trees.

And the spell was broken. Several grounders stepped forward, gathering Ian, Tohru and Juram. Anya and Lexa and Yunto were left. "Come," Anya said, mounting Levi and gathering Yunto in front of her. Yunto remained shell-shocked, frozen. Lexa whistled, and Naya emerged. Lexa mounted her horse and followed, silent, back to the village.


	14. Chapter 14

The evening passed in a haze. Lexa's legs moved automatically, her tongue spoke of its own accord as geda after geda asked her what happened. She saw very little of Anya, who was in deep conference with the other top geda. Ian, Juram and Tohru were dead. Geda stepped forward and prepared the bodies, wrapping them in white sheets, a pyre built quickly. Everyone seemed to take stock in the menial tasks in a useless attempt to distract themselves from the events of the afternoon. Scouting shifts were doubled to watch for the Reapers in case they returned, though Lexa thought they wouldn't. The Reapers were wildly unpredictable, they wouldn't strike the same place twice in an afternoon unless it was a highly unusual occurrence.

Lexa was shuttled from task to task, seeing flashes of the other sekons. Ophus and Yunto remained in Corin's tent for the entire evening, not once emerging. Lexa had seen Yunto. Physically, she thought he looked ok on the outside, but there was no telling what happened to him on the inside. Plus, he would need to step up. He had been Juram's sekon, being trained as a healer.

At one point Lexa and Costia saw each other, as Costia was helping the other sekons carry wood for the pyre. Their eyes met, but there was no time to talk. Lexa wasn't even sure that she would be able to.

The light continued fading from the sky as Lexa eventually found herself without any tasks to perform. She wandered through the village, but nothing was distracting her. Finally she found herself outside, at the edge of the village, scouting into the trees. The torches around the village had been lit for light, but the light extended only so far out, creating a soft bubble of activity and safety. The dark woods before her, Lexa's eyes cut through the darkness, alert for any sign of movement.

"Lexa," a voice whispered in Lexa's ear. She turned. Anya was standing behind her, tall, gaunt and tired. For the first time, Lexa looked at her first and saw a sekon. Her face was exhausted beyond anything that had happened. Her tired eyes looked at Lexa, scared and afraid. Lexa walked over to her sekon, her head coming up almost to her shoulder. Anya's arms encircled hers, and sekon and first stood together.

"Sit," Anya said after a long time. She sat on the ground, folding her legs underneath her. Her hands sat, unmoving on her thighs, her eyes half open. She remained like this for a span of time. Lexa waited. Her first would speak when she needed to.

"The village has been struck a large blow this day," Anya said. Her voice remained low and even. "A blow that will take some time, but we will recover from. Ophus has lost the use of his legs, at least for the time being. Yunto will make a full recovery, and Corin will be his new first. He will still be trained as a healer."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Lexa.

"Because," Anya said, and her eyes flashed up, brown meeting hazel. "And I am telling you this before it is announced to the village, because it will be after the vigil tonight. But the geda have discussed it, and together have decided that I will become the new heda."

Lexa was unsurprised. Anya, next to Ian, had been the best geda in the village. She was a brilliant warrior, her strategy was unmatched, and her weapons skills rivaled that of Tohru himself.

"This means," Anya said. "You will be the sekon to the heda."

Lexa blinked, unsure of what this meant.

"I know. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it is. Sekon to heda is a very intense position to fill. We will be running the village alongside training you. But I think you will be able to handle it. What you did today..." here Anya paused, searching for words. "If you had not done what you did, there is a large chance that I would be among the dead. We were taken off guard completely. Your horse is unrivaled in sense, she knew far before any of us did that something was gone. And you were able to get help as you did. And for this..." once again Anya stopped, staring at the ground. She shook her head several times. "And for this I am in debt to you and Naya," Anya finished.

Lexa looked at the ground. For any other situation she would be soaring. But not at the price that she had had to pay. "I understand," she said.

"I will still be your first," Anya said, reaching down to fix Lexa's messy braids. "I will be your first as long as I live, until you become geda. That will never change. It's just, we'll have other work to do alongside it. I hope that you'll be ok. I hope I will be ok..."

Lexa said nothing, but let Anya fix her braids. Anya finished, tying back her hair and smoothing down the little curls. "Come," Anya said, standing and brushing the dirt off her. "We have a vigil to lead."

The two of them returned to the village, Lexa still processing everything that had happened. The village was silent as the two of them joined the others.

The geda had formed a crowd before the pyre that had been built earlier, the three bodies laid on top, wrapped in pure white. Corin stepped forward, as the temporary head of the village.

"Oso kamp raun getha. Pul stedaunon op, en oso mem op. But we must move forward from this tragic blow dealt to our village, and emerge stronger than before. Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim!"

The village collectively bowed their heads in agreement. Corin turned to the pyre, and held up the torch to light it. "Yu gonplei ste odon," she said, and the village echoed it back. She reached forward and touched the torch to the pyre. The oil soaked wood lit instantly, and flames grew higher and higher until the light was almost too bright for Lexa to watch. Corin pulled back from the heat as the flames burned fast and hot.

After what seemed like a few seconds, the flames died down, the pyre now a pile of burnt wood and ash, bits of white cloth floating up and away from the camp on the currents of air.

"We need a leader," Corin said after a long silence. "Our heda, Tohru, was killed this afternoon, protecting the warriors that needed him the most. In battle, our strongest geda were killed, fighting until the end. Tohru, Ian and Juram died noble deaths, and because of their sacrifices and their skill, Anya, Ophus and Yunto survived to fight another day.

"The successor to Tohru has been determined. The remaining geda have all agreed upon one to lead us against these dark times, and will shepherd us to victory against the Reapers. Geda Anya, please step forward."

Anya squeezed Lexa's hand, and then walked past the village up to where Corin was standing at the front. She turned to face Corin.

"Geda Anya, do you swear to protect this village until your dying breath?" Corin asked Anya.

"Sha op," Anya said. I do.

"Geda Anya, will you lead this village through times of peace and times of war?"

"Sha op," Anya said. The village watched silently. Even breaths seemed to pause.

"Geda Anya, will you lead our village as one among the tregedakru, taking orders from the Commander himself?"

"Sha op."

"From this day forward until your death, upon the village's decision, I pronounce you heda. Belaik heda, Anya!"

"Ai laik Heda!" Anya yelled to the village.

"Yu laik Heda!" the village called back in one voice.

"Step forward," Corin said. Anya knelt in front of Corin. Corin removed a bit of metal from the pyre. It was the wheel symbol of the heda. They were the navigator, the wheel marked them on their forehead. If Anya made a noise during this process, she could no longer be heda. The heda was the calm in the storm.

Corin stepped forward to Anya, holding the metal wheel with a small pair of tongs. She reached out and placed the wheel on Anya's forehead. Lexa saw the skin turn red with the heat, but Anya remained motionless, despite the fact that the pain she felt was immense.

And then it was over. Anya stood, the mark on her forehead remained behind. Corin handed her the heda's sword, and she drew it with a yell. The village let out a cheer. Anya was there as the heda. She would lead the village against the mountain men. And she had Lexa to help her do it.


	15. Chapter 15

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months as the timed blurred together. Every day Lexa woke up before the sun came up, took her shift on scouting duty. The tregedakru went through the forest, every nook, cranny and tree, searching for a sign of the reapers but the forest gave them nothing. Anya was doing her best, but the reapers refused to appear. The Isagedakru had also faded into the background. Anya said this was likely because they were building up for an attack, but the attack never came. Anya would post scouts out, but her efforts were poured into the fruitless search for the mountain men, even after the snow came. The geda thought the tracks might make it easier for them to be tracked, but even then, nothing came.

Lexa was posted in charge of food so Anya could focus on the reapers. Lexa took the sekons out as winter approached and together they brought in pounds of two headed deer, squirrels with three tails and spiney rabbits. The meat was dried and stored for the long winter. And even as the cold came, the tracks in the snow made it almost too easy to hunt.

But in the afternoons, no matter what the day was, Anya would make sure to take Lexa out into the woods. And they would train. Archery, though Lexa still practiced, faded into the background as spear training came to front. Every method, stabbing, swinging, lancework, throwing the spear. Anya taught Lexa it all. And even as Lexa began to hit harder than Anya, throw further, pierce more accurately, Anya still had more to teach Lexa. The secrets to making arrows from trees in winter, when the braches were half frozen. Together on the days when it was a little too much, they would harvest the needles of the hemlock and make tea together.

Lexa progressed quickly, and as the snow finally began to melt and the weather began to be warm enough that the grounders could leave behind their large hide coats and fur boots, Anya was beginning to teach her staffwork. Together they harvested a long, straight ironwood bough, shaving it down and down until it was a thick, long staff, with a slight bulge on one end for hitting and knocking things down. At first Anya put Lexa on her knees every day, and Lexa would come home with bruises running all down her sides, but as they continued Anya began to have her own collection of bruises. Even then, they would sit by the water as they harvested algae for poisons and antidotes and rub their bruises and scrapes with cool water, laughing as they splashed each other, forgetting about their responsibilities for the moment.

And of course, in the evenings, the sekons would still fight and play, only this time it was with weapons. They would take turns, Lexa with her spear against Sanse and his axe, Costia with a mace and Reed with a short sword. Despite the fact that spears against maces, axes and swords shouldn't work, time and time again Lexa would knock over her opponents, sweeping down their feet with her length, twirling and spinning to avoid the heavy blows that larger weapons would leave and exchanging her spot with a prick from the black leaf-blade at the top of the shaft.

Costia and Lexa would always fight and despite Costia's proficiency in mace and axe, Lexa would lay her down. Costia would try, her face growing taut with concentration, but Lexa would dance away laughing, and poke Costia's rib with the spear to Costia's immense frustration. But all was forgiven during the nights when the two of them would escape from the village to the cliff to watch the stars, and later as the snow melted once again, watch the sunset as the day began to creep forward again to replace the long nights with grey mornings.

And then every night the two of them would come back to the sekons' tent and curl up together under the same wool blanket, curled together for warmth and comfort on their mats. As they began to grow taller, Lexa began to overtake Costia after a year of being shorter than her, so for the first times in a year, Lexa began to curl around Costia instead of Costia being on the outside. Lexa would always comb her fingers through Costia's black hair, fascinated by how smooth it could be compared to her tangle of fluffy curls. And yet Costia would always laugh and braid Lexa's hair for her, though Anya would find imperfections later and tighten Lexa's braids with a smile and roll of her eyes.

The sekons always slept in a tangle of limbs and growing bodies as they had for the past year until finally one day Alana woke up with a terrified scream when she found her sleeping mat covered in blood. Sanse and Janus on either side jumped back with a yell, and Janus ran to get Corin and Ophus. Corin came to the sekons tent with a hurried look on her face, worried that one of the sekons was dying, likely due to the way Janus had described the situation, but upon seeing Alana's bed and Alana's terrified face she dropped her med kit and began to laugh. The sekons in the tent looked at one another, confused beyond anything as their healer cackled so hard her face turned red and she sat down hard on the floor of the tent. She wiped away her tears and collected herself. "Your moon blood's come, Alana," Corin finally managed. The sekons stared at her with confusion. "How old are you, Alana?"

"Twelve," Alana said, still horrified.

"I thought so. Lexa and Costia's should come within the next three or four years as well. Nothing to worry about. Boys, you all can scat," Corin said, with a shooing motion at the other five sekons. Gabe, Sanse, Yunto, Janus and Reed were kicked out of the tent with many confusing glances at each other.

Remaining behind were Alana, Costia and Lexa. The three young sekons listened to their healer as she told them about how every month blood would come out of their bodies and it was life-giving blood and sacred, but you had to wear a weird cloth in your pants for a week while it happened so you didn't get blood everywhere. Corin gave two to Alana. It was essentially a thick piece of cloth, and Corin said every day Alana should switch it out in the evening and wash it and then again in the morning. Their healer then told them that for the first several times, it might not come every month, and that it shouldn't really hurt but after a few years their stomachs might feel like they were knotted and twisted and that these were their bodies going through the motions of having a baby without actually having a baby and that they were quite painful and the only way to really get around it would be to chew the inner bark of the willow, which was a painkiller, and that they could heat up a piece of hide over the fire and put it over their stomach and that would also help.

Costia, Lexa and Alana were confused through this whole talk. "Will the boys get moon-blood?" Alana asked at the end.

"No, they won't," Corin said with a roll of her eyes and a laugh.

"Do they get anything?" Alana said, her brows furrowing.

"No," Corin said with a half-smile.

"What?! That's not fair!" Alana shot back with a frown.

"No, it isn't," Corin said. "So we get them back two ways: with the satisfaction of knowing we can take much more pain than they can, and when they get too annoying, we get them back with a swift knee to the balls."

The three sekons looked at each other as Corin laughed at her own joke. "Ah, the boys will learn quickly not to mess with us when we have our moon-blood. You'll probably understand when you're a little older."

And with that, the healer left the sekons tent and from then on the male sekons had to sleep on one side of the tent and the female sekons had to sleep on the other side, which meant Alana couldn't sleep with Janus and Sanse anymore, so Costia and Lexa would let her curl up with them on the colder nights.

Finally there was one day when the snow melted and never came back again, and this was the day Ophus started sleeping in the sekon's tent again. Upon his return the other sekons cheered, Reed running up to his friend and embracing him. Ophus still couldn't walk unassisted. His legs would be forever knobbed and twisted, but he could make time with a set of wooden crutches that Dain, one of the other geda had made him. And even though he couldn't really fight, Ophus' job became nursing the significant bruises the sekons emerged with, because fighting with weapons will leave bigger bruises than fighting with hands. And Ophus was remarkably deft with healing as his hands became more dextrous and he had more time to practice the skills. He reached for plantain, willow bark, birch bark and cloves and make pain fade, cuts heal faster and bruises eased.

And last of all, Lexa would take Naya on long runs through the forest, practicing shooting her bow and throwing her spear from horseback, and later on, sweeping her staff at straw targets she had made herself. Ever since that day, Naya and Lexa had a bond between them unlike anything Lexa had ever known. Her horse was smart, smarter than most and Lexa finally knew just how smart she was. They progressed to the point where Naya could practically read Lexa's mind and with a gentle shift of weight or the slightest of taps with her heel Naya would turn and go. And Lexa could practically think of stopping and Naya would slow. But her horse was sensitive to danger, dodging trees Lexa didn't see, skirting unknown cliffs and avoiding loose stone her rider had failed to catch. And Lexa would treat her horse with a long grooming, washing her mare down from nose to tail, brushing out her mane and tail and combing her fur until it shone in the sunlight. And when she released Naya into the pasture, her horse would take off, running through the grass and bucking off her energy, galloping past the younger horses despite her 12 years.

And the days ran together and plodded on until before Lexa knew it, another year had looped in on itself as she was absorbed in the busy life of a heda sekon, going to meetings, training, and twice a year, seeing the rest of the tregedakru on the equinox meetings, celebrating the solstices and the springtime sun emergence, the feast day in may, the midsummer festival, the harvest celebration in the fall. Suddenly her village wasn't the youngest sekons as she went to the equinox meetings and met the new batch of sekons, the young ten year olds spunky and naive. They would learn. And as the days looped together, around and through, the months began to approach Lexa's fourteenth year as the summer began to come to an end once again.


End file.
